Folktales of the Jews, Volume 2: Tales from Eastern Europe

Thanks to these generous donors for making the publication of the books in this series possible: Lloyd E. Cotsen; The Maurice Amado Foundation; National Endowment for the Humanities; and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. The second volume in a literary landmark Folktales from Eastern Europe presents 71 tales from Ashkenazic culture in the most important collection of Jewish folktales ever published. It is the second volume in Folktales of the Jews, the five-volume series to be released over the next several years, in the tradition of Louis Ginzberg's classic, Legends of the Jews. The tales here and the others in this series have been selected from the Israel Folktale Archives at The University of Haifa, Israel (IFA), a treasure house of Jewish lore that has remained largely unavailable to the entire world until now. Since the creation of the State of Israel, the IFA has collected more than 20,000 tales from newly arrived immigrants, long-lost stories shared by their families from around the world. The tales come from the major ethno-linguistic communities of the Jewish world and are representative of a wide variety of subjects and motifs, especially rich in Jewish content and context. Each of the tales is accompanied by in-depth commentary that explains the tale's cultural, historical, and literary background and its similarity to other tales in the IFA collection, and extensive scholarly notes. There is also an introduction that describes the Ashkenazic culture and its folk narrative tradition, a world map of the areas covered, illustrations, biographies of the collectors and narrators, tale type and motif indexes, a subject index, and a comprehensive bibliography. Until the establishment of the IFA, we had had only limited access to the wide range of Jewish folk narratives. Even in Israel, the gathering place of the most wide-ranging cross-section of world Jewry, these folktales have remained largely unknown. Many of the communities no longer exist as cohesive societies in their representative lands; the Holocaust, migration, and changes in living styles have made the continuation of these tales impossible. This series is a monument to a rich but vanishing oral tradition. 25. Rabbi Jacob The Storyteller ; Or The Power Of Repentance -- 26. The Immigration Pangs Of Rabbi Chilibon Franco Of Rhodes -- 27. How The New Immigrant Doychon Torres Got Rid Of The Cheese He Brought With Him Without A Kashrut Certificate -- Moral Tales -- 28. God Loves The Heart -- 29. The Honest Merchant -- 30. The Rich Man Who Avoided Giving Charity But Later Mended His Ways -- 31. The Pregnant King -- 32. The Rich Man And His Two Sons -- Folktales -- 33. Noah's Daughter -- 34. The Angel Who Descended To Put The World In Order -- 35. Satan's Sons -- 36. The Astrologer-king And The Rabbi -- 37. A Bear Makes A Poor Musician Rich But Is Insulted By The Musician's Wife -- 38. An Old Man's Advice Makes A Poor Man Rich -- 39. Half A Friend -- 40. The Man Who Knew All About Animals, Diamonds, And People's Character -- 41. This, Too, Shall Pass -- 42. Letters Form The Angel Of Death -- 43. There Is No Escaping Heaven's Decree -- 44. What Heaven Ordains Must Surely Take Place -- 45. The Rabbi's Son And The King's Daughter -- 46. The King's Wise Daughter -- 47. The Trained Cat And The Rabbi's Wise Daughter. 48. The Rabbi's Son And The Priest -- 49. King Abdul-aziz, The Jewish Builder, And The Wicked Painter -- 50. The Miracle Of Tu Bʼshevat -- 51. The Old Woman And The Wind -- 52. King Solomon's Judgment -- 53. Anything To Find Favor With A Woman -- 54. King Solomon, His Ethiopian Wife, And Her Lover -- 55. The Miser Mohel And The Demon -- 56. The Miraculous Circumcision -- 57. The Disciples' Envy Of The Rabbi's Son -- Humorous Tales -- 58. The Story Of The Baklava -- 59. A Porter Saves Maimonides' Life -- 60. Blinder Than A Blind Man -- A General Note On The Tales Of Djuha -- 61. Djuha Helps His Mother -- 62. Djuha's Face -- 63. Why Djuha Never Got Married -- 64. Djuha Plays Dead -- 65. Camel Seeds -- 66. Djuha Counts The Donkeys -- 67. Djuha And The Mules -- 68. A Recipe For Fish -- 69. A Fair Division -- 70. A Bad Man's Desserts -- 71. The Rabbi And The Priest -- Abbreviations -- Narrators -- Collectors -- Bibliography -- Motif Indexes -- Tale Type Indexes -- General Index. V. 2. Tales From Eastern Europe -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction To Volume 2 -- A Note On The Commentaries -- Tales Of The Supernatural -- 1. The Three-day Fair In Balta -- 2. The Kaddish -- 3. The House Vanished With All Its Inhabitants -- 4. The Rabbi Who Was Tricked -- 5. The Demons And Spirits Under The Fingernails -- 6. The Treasure -- 7. The Bottle Of Oil From The Holy Land -- Hasidic Tales -- 8. Rebbe Shmelke's Matzos -- 9. The Unforgotten Melody -- 10. The Power Of A Melody -- 11. The Happy Man -- 12. How Rothschild Became Wealthy -- 13. Why Rebbe Levi Yitzhak Of Berdichev Deviated From His Custom -- 14. The Blessing Of Elijah The Prophet On Yom Kippur -- 15. Rebbe Pinhasʼl Of Korets -- 16. The Karliner Rebbe's Prescription -- 17. The Merit Of The Third Sabbath Meal -- 18. The Apostate Who Made The Tenth For A Minyan -- Holocaust Tales -- 19. The Fireflies On Rosh Hashanah Night In Lodz Ghetto -- 20. The Miracle Of The White Doves -- Historical Tales -- 21. The Exodus On Purim In The Town Of Yampol -- 22. What Really Caused World War I -- Tales Between Jews And Non-jews -- 23. The Shofar Of The Messiah -- 24. The Redemption Of Captives. 25. The Long Had Gadya -- 26. The Two Friends -- 27. The Gentile Beggar's Secret -- 28. The Boy Who Was Kidnapped And Brought To Russia -- 29. The Jew Who Returned To His People -- 30. The Boots Made From A Torah Scroll -- 31. The Gentile Who Wanted To Screw The Jew -- Moral Tales -- 32. The Old Couple And Their Children -- 33. With The Rebbe's Power -- 34. Gossip Is Worse Than Profaning The Sabbath -- 35. The Tailor Who Was Content With His Lot -- 36. A Poor Man's Wisdom Is Scorned -- 37. A Change Of Place Is A Change Of Luck -- 38. God Will Help -- 39. The Poisoned Cake -- 40. There Is No Truth In The World -- 41. Everyone Prefers His Own Bundle Of Troubles -- 42. Reb Zusha The Shoemaker -- 43. As Face Answers To Face In Water -- 44. Who Has The Right To Benefit From The Ten Commandments? -- 45. The Neighbor In Paradise -- 46. A Trial In Heaven -- 47. White Flowers, Red Flowers. Folktales -- 48. The King's Three Daughters -- 49. A Boy And Girl Who Were Destined For Each Other -- 50. The Three Young Men -- 51. The Poor Man Who Became Rich -- 52. The Stolen Ring -- 53. The Money Hidden In The Cemetery -- 54. Catch The Thief ; Or Don't Put Too Much Trust In A Pious Person -- Humorous Tales -- 55. I Came From Mád And Returned To Mád -- 56. The Jewish Innkeeper -- 57. Little Fish, Big Fish -- 58. Three Complaints -- 59. The Elderly Cantor -- 60. What Kind Of Congregants I've Got! -- 61. What Kind Of Rabbi We've Got In This Town! -- 62. Half Is Mine And Half Is Yours -- 63. A Visit By Elijah The Prophet -- 64. The Emissary From The World To Come -- 65. Froyim Greidinger Revives The Dead -- 66. The Death Of A Wicked Heretic -- 67. Who Had It Better? -- 68. The Shammes Who Became A Millionaire -- 69. I Have No Place To Rest -- 70. Stalin Tests His Friends -- 71. Communism And Religion -- Abbreviations -- Narrators -- Collectors -- Bibliography -- Motif Indexes -- Tale Type Indexes -- General Index. V. 3. Tales From Arab Lands -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction To Volume 3 -- A Note On The Commentaries -- Legends -- 1. The Tenth Man In Hebron -- 2. Reciting Psalms -- 3. The Blood Libel In Constantinople In The Time Of Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov Of Blessed Memory -- 4. Rabbi Ḥayyim Ben Attar And The Ba'al Shem Tov -- 5. Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital -- 6. Rabbi David Alshqar Knows The Time Of His Death -- 7. Rabbi Shelomoh The Lion -- 8. Shalom [shalem] Shabazi As A Healer -- 9. You Shall Not Destroy The Side-growth Of Your Beard -- 10. The Miracle At The Tomb Of Sidu Bu-'aissa U-sliman, Who Was A Jew -- 11. The Holy Book -- 12. The Ba'al Shem Tov Drags Jesus And Mary Down From A Picture -- 13. The Menorah Of Jerba -- 14. The Miracle Of The Myrtle -- 15. The Jewish Fisherman's Song Of The Sea -- Moral Tales -- 16. The Field That The Lion Entered -- 17. Three Old Brothers Solve A Problem -- 18. The Cobbler And The King -- 19. One Should Always Be Happy With His Lot -- 20. Rabbi Shalem [shalom] Shabazi And The Yemenite Imam -- 21. King Solomon And The Craftsman's Wife -- 22. Remember Days Of Old! -- 23. The Complacent Wife -- 24. Seven Daughters And Seven Sons -- 25. Fertility And Changing Place Bring Luck -- 26. Observing The Sabbath -- 27. It Pays To Love God -- 28. The Resurrected Dead Man (righteousness Saves From Death) -- 29. Charity Begins At Home -- 30. Two Loyal Friends -- 31. He Who Finds A Wife Has Found Happiness -- 32. Elijah The Prophet Saves A Jewish Family From Destruction -- Folktales -- 33. The Cruel Loaner And The Clever Princess -- 34. Three Questions -- 35. The Fateful Debate -- 36. They Did Not Ask Him To Ask The Fish For Anything -- 37. Where Is God's Place In Israel? -- 38. The Rabbi's Daughter And The Miraculous Child -- 39. A Story Of A Prince And A Princess -- 40. Smeda Rmeda -- 41. The Rich Man Who Wanted To Marry His Daughter -- 42. A Woman Of Valor Who Can Find? (the Entrapped Lovers) -- 43. The Man Who Never Took An Oath -- 44. The Apple Tree's Daughter -- 45. The Poor Fisherman -- 46. The Faithful Widow -- 47. The Poor Jew Who Went Looking For His Fortune -- 48. Go To The Cemetary -- 49. The Woman Is The Cause Of Everything -- 50. The Man Who Searched For His Luck -- 51. The Blessed One, Or The Lucky Youth -- 52. Two Brothers -- 53. The Clever Brother -- 54. The Poor Man Who Set Out To Earn A Living (elijah The Prophet) -- 55. A Daughter Awaits A Gift From God -- 56. A Story Of A Brave Son -- 57. King Solomon -- 58. The Partnership With Ashmedai -- Humorous Tales -- 59. Cows Do Not Believe Foals -- 60. Abu Katerina -- Abbreviations -- Narrators -- Collectors -- Bibliography -- Motif Indexes -- Tale Type Indexes -- General Index. Edited And With Commentary By Dan Ben-amos; Dov Noy, Consulting Editor ; Ellen Frankel, Series Editor ; Translated By Leonard J. Schramm ; Illustrations By Ira Shander. Map On Lining Papers. Tales Selected From The Israel Folktale Archives Named In Honor Of Dov Noy. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Folktales from Eastern Europe presents 71 tales from Ashkenasic culture in the most important collection of Jewish folktales ever published. It is the second volume in Folktales of the Jews, the five-volume series to be released over the next several years, in the tradition of Louis Ginzberg's classic, Legends of the Jews. The tales here and the others in this series have been selected from the Israel Folktale Archives at The University of Haifa, Israel (IFA), a treasure house of Jewish lore that has remained largely unavailable to the entire world until now. Since the creation of the State of Israel, the IFA has collected more than 20,000 tales from newly arrived immigrants, long-lost stories shared by their families from around the world. The tales come from the major ethno-linguistic communities of the Jewish world and are representative of a wide variety of subjects and motifs, especially rich in Jewish content and context. Each of the tales is accompanied by in-depth commentary that explains the tale's cultural, historical, and literary background and its similarity to other tales in the IFA collection, and extensive scholarly notes. There is also an introduction that describes the Ashkenasic culture and its folk narrative tradition, a world map of the areas covered, illustrations, biographies of the collectors and narrators, tale type and motif indexes, a subject index, and a comprehensive bibliography. Until the establishment of the IFA, we had had only limited access to the wide range of Jewish folk narratives. Even in Israel, the gathering place of the most wide-ranging cross-section of world Jewry, these folktales have remained largely unknown. Many of the communities no longer exist as cohesive societies in their representative lands; the Holocaust, migration, and changes in living styles have made the continuation of these tales impossible. This volume and the others to come will be monuments to a rich but vanishing oral tradition. Presents 71 tales from Ashkenazic culture in the most important collection of Jewish folktales. This title includes tales accompanied by commentary that explains the tale's cultural, historical, and literary background and its similarity to other tales in the Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) collection, and extensive scholarly notes.