Once upon a time, attending a Torah service did not mean simply listening to someone read Hebrew.

In ancient days the Torah reader had a helper, a m’turgeman, who translated the Hebrew line by line into the local tongue and added commentary as the Torah was read.

For unclear reasons, about 1,000 years ago, the role of the m’turgeman was discontinued.

Now Amechai Lau-Lavie —educator and artist, as well as son, nephew and brother of Israeli rabbis — wants to bring that m’turgeman role back, and in the process make some “cool new Jewish art.”

“The m’turgeman was the artist-in-residence,” he says.

Lau-Lavie is the founder and guiding light of Storahtelling, a New York-based performance group of about 30 actors and musicians whose mission is to make the Torah’s stories relevant and contemporary.

Touring groups of four or five travel the country, performing in synagogues and JCCs.

Thanks to a grant from the estate of Lena S. Cantor, Lau-Lavie and Storahtelling will visit Dayton Dec. 10-12.

Cantor left money for the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and Temple Israel to collaborate on joint programs.

“We could have done a scholar-in-residence, but we wanted something different,” says Deva Zwelling, director of community Jewish education at the Federation.

“We’re hoping to draw large numbers of people of all ages and denominations, to show them a new approach to interpreting Torah.”

Lau-Lavie calls his mission “inreach.”

He asks, “Can the stories and mythology of the Torah affect people’s inner life?”

He refers to the Torah as an ocean: “Every time you go for a dip, it’s not the same ocean and it’s not the same you.”

Several Temple Israel members have experienced Storahtelling performances at national conferences.

Alan Halpern, Temple Israel’s executive director and cantorial soloist, describes a performance: “There’s a brief intro with song and music, then they bring out the Torah and do the first aliyah (Torah reading) and someone chants in Hebrew while someone else tells the story in English. Then they do a second aliyah, and after that, things get freer.

“At the first performance I saw, one of the performers came out of the congregation and said, ‘I heard this story another way.’ That’s when I realized the group was dealing not just with Torah, but Midrash (legend).  After the third aliyah, they tie up the loose ends.”

Temple Israel member Nancy Cohen says, “Lau-Lavie’s thing is that the Torah reading is often the most boring part of a service, and it should be the most exciting. Humor, drama, audience participation — he does make the Torah come alive.  I can’t wait for my 13-year-old son to see it.”

Lau-Lavie says he and his troupe treasure audience interaction with their ritual performances.

“Very often people are provoked or seduced into sharing amazing stories,” he says.

He talks about a recent performance that used the story of Jacob’s ladder to frame a discussion about sacred space.

An old man stood to talk about his role in liberating a concentration camp, saying he thought of the camp’s land as sacred. A child mentioned his own sacred space: “my bedroom.”

Lau-Lavie says one goal of Storahtelling is to inspire congregations to reclaim the m’turgeman tradition.

“It’s been pretty inspiring so far,” he notes. “In every community there are people capable of doing this.”

Daytonian Ed Gessel, for example, hopes to write a performance for Temple Israel.

Halpern says the two ritual performances he saw both dealt with stories from Genesis.

“I wonder how they do Leviticus,” muses Halpern, speaking of the book of laws and codes.

“Leviticus is a challenge,” answers Stephanie Pacheco, Storahtelling’s production manager, sounding excited. “That’s when we have to dig in and find the nugget of a story.”

Lau-Lavie recalls a story he heard in his youth. Truth walked around town naked and skinny, and no one wanted anything to do with him.

Parable, on the other hand, wore colorful clothes and was popular. One day, Parable lent Truth some of his fancy clothing, and Truth was suddenly accepted. From then on, Parable and Truth walked together.

“The truth needs packaging,” Lau-Lavie says. He demurs when asked if this is what he’s trying to do. “I package myth,” he says, “and someone maybe can crack the nut of truth in it.”

Temple Israel President Alan Brown recalls a Storahtelling ritual performance he saw two years ago.

“They took a Torah portion I’d read a million times and made it humorous and brought it to life. It’s killing me that I’ll be out of town the weekend they’re here. ”

Which may illustrate the triumph of Lau-Lavie’s vision:  when did you last hear of someone distraught over missing a Torah service?

On Friday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, Amichai Lau-Lavie will give a presentation including the history of Storahtelling. On Saturday, Dec. 11 at 10:30 a.m. Storahtelling will participate in the Temple Israel’s service, presenting the Torah portion Miketz, in which Joseph is fetched from jail to interpret  Pharaoh’s dreams. On Saturday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at the home of Dr. Ran and Rena Neiger the group will lead a musical Havdalah. On Sunday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. Storahtelling will be part of the community-wide Chanukah party at the Boonshoft CJCE, presenting a slightly different version of Miketz. For all events, R.S.V.P. to Jane Bush, 854-4150 ext. 300.