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Chełm in Jewish Folklore (Jewish Studies)

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  1.  
  2. Introduction
  3. The collected tales of the wise men of Chelm constitute the best-known folktale tradition of the Jews of eastern Europe. This tradition includes a sprawling repertoire of stories treating the intellectual limitations of the perennially and proverbially foolish members and, especially, leaders of the old and important Jewish community of Chelm. Located between Lublin and Lviv in what is now eastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, the midsized town of Chelm (Chełm in Polish, Khelem or Khelm in Yiddish and Hebrew, Kholm in Russian and Ukrainian) had an established Jewish community since the Early Modern period and was predominantly Jewish (and specifically Hasidic) until the Second World War. In the 16th century, Chelm was home to an important yeshiva and to Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm, a golem-creating kabbalist, and in the early 17th century to Samuel Edels, a leading Talmudist. It never recovered its cultural eminence after the devastation it suffered in the Cossack-Polish War (1648–1657). The town was occupied by the German army in 1939, and only a few hundred of its 15,000 Jews survived World War II. Chelm became and remains famous in Jewish literature and culture through its association with folly, but the town does not make its debut in the role of the foolish shtetl par excellence until late in the 19th century. The tales of the wise men of Chelm are based on a mix of early modern German folly literature, Enlightenment satire, and popular narratives from Slavic and other sources. Since the end of the 19th century, Chelm has led a double life—as a real town and as an imaginary place, onto which questions of Jewish identity, community, and history have been projected.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6. Neither the history of the Jewish community of Chelm nor the literary tradition of the wise men of Chelm has been studied extensively. Wodziński 2008 and Krakowski and Kalish 2007, however, offer a brief description of the town’s history. The Yiddish and Hebrew community memorial books (Bakaltshuk-Felin 1954 and Kanc 1980–1981) were produced by Chelm landsmanshaftn and comprise a kaleidoscope of articles on local history, culture, and memory, with an emphasis on the 20th century and especially the Holocaust. Although most of the contributors are articulate former community members rather than trained historians, each volume provides a number of informative and useful articles on specific aspects of Chelm history and culture. The general narrative tradition of the wise men of Chelm is discussed valuably but briefly in Friedman 1954 and again in Portnoy 2008, but, despite the popularity of the subject, otherwise hardly at all, prior to the analysis in Bernuth 2016 of the connections between the German and Yiddish foolish-town traditions, from late medieval popular novels through Enlightenment literature to 19th-century ethnographic writings and a range of plays, films, and literary texts from the 20th and 21st centuries. Aside from that, Sadan 1954 offers a speculative linguistic discussion of the origins of Chelm’s association with folly, Schwarzbaum 1968 places examples of Chelm stories within the international repertoire of jokelore, and a couple of scholars have examined individual works of Chelm literature (see Shmeruk 1995, cited under Children’s Literature, and Rogovin 2009, cited under Modern Fiction and Poetry). The tales of the wise men of Chelm, however, despite this relative neglect, are often cited as examples of Jewish humor and included in bibliographies (Elswit 2012).
  7.  
  8. Bakaltshuk-Felin, Melekh, ed. Yizker-bukh Khelm. Johannesburg: Khelmer Landsmanshaft, 1954.
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  11.  
  12. The earliest Chelm memorial volume includes articles on such subjects as political movements and parties, the school system, notable individuals (Moshe Lerer, Yitskhok Shiper), and the tales of the wise men, as well as poems, personal memories, and eyewitness testimony of the Shoah. The quality of the articles is rather uneven.
  13.  
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  15.  
  16. Bernuth, Ruth von. How the Wise Men Got to Chelm: The Life and Times of a Yiddish Folk Tradition. New York: New York University Press, 2016.
  17.  
  18. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1bj4s13Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19.  
  20. Presents a comprehensive survey of the Chelm literature itself, and its German and Yiddish precursors, from late medieval culture and early modern literature to early-21st-century culture and literature. By placing the collections in historical context, the book shows that foolish Chelm and its earlier incarnations have functioned for over three hundred years as a model, positive as well as negative, enabling Jewish writers not simply to entertain but, with a light touch, to highlight all sorts of societal problems.
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  23.  
  24. Elswit, Sharon B. The Jewish Story Finder: A Guide to 688 Tales Listing Subjects and Sources. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2012.
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  27.  
  28. Elswit offers an overview of modern stories in English as well as cross-references to many Chelm tales in anthologies and humor and story collections. On Chelm, see especially numbers 414–452.
  29.  
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  31.  
  32. Friedman, Filip. “Tsu der geshikhte fun di yidn in Khelm.” In Yizker-bukh Khelm. Edited by Melekh Bakaltshuk-Felin, 13–38. Johannesburg: Khelmer Landsmanshaft, 1954.
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  35.  
  36. A brief overview of the history of Chelm, with a substantial summary of the tales of the wise men of Chelm and a bibliography of Chelm literature. Also discusses briefly the connection between precursors in German and Yiddish and the emergence of Chelm literature in the 19th century.
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  39.  
  40. Kanc, Shimon, ed. Sefer ha-zikaron li-kehilat Ḥelem: 40 shanah le-ḥurbanah. Tel Aviv: Irgun yotsʼe Ḥelem be-Yiśraʼel uve-Ar. ha-B., 1980–1981.
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  43.  
  44. In addition to Hebrew translations of selected articles from the earlier Yiddish-language memorial volume (Bakaltshuk-Felin 1954), Kanc offers a range of new articles and literary pieces on the history and culture of the Jewish community of Chelm. A few texts are in Yiddish. The quality of the articles is rather uneven.
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  47.  
  48. Krakowski, Stefan, and Aryeh-Leib Kalish. “Chelm.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 4, Blu–Cof. 2d ed. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 588–589. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.
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  51.  
  52. Presents a brief overview of Chelm’s Jewish history between the 16th and 20th centuries, with some details of religious groups and leaders of the community. Also available online.
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. Portnoy, Edward. “Wise Men of Chelm.” In YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Vol. 2. Edited by Gershon Hundert, 2027. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
  57.  
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  59.  
  60. This encyclopedia entry provides a brief overview of the tales of the wise men of Chelm in eastern European culture. Also available online.
  61.  
  62. Find this resource:
  63.  
  64. Sadan, Dov. “Ḥakhmei Ḥelem.” Yeda Am 2 (1954): 229–232.
  65.  
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  67.  
  68. The article makes a connection between Chelm and the Hebrew word ḥalom (dream, fantasy) and its Yiddish form, khoylem. It further speculates that the resemblance of the word khoylem to the word goylem (“golem” in Hebrew), an automaton or dummy, as in the Yiddish expression that calls a foolish child khoylem-goylem, is relevant to locating the wise men in Chelm. In addition, it discusses the assonance in the phrase Khelmer khakhomim (wise men of Chelm).
  69.  
  70. Find this resource:
  71.  
  72. Schwarzbaum, Haim. Studies in Jewish and World Folklore. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1968.
  73.  
  74. DOI: 10.1515/9783110818116Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  75.  
  76. Provides a translation with extensive annotations of Naftoli Gross’s Mayselekh un mesholim. A selection of Chelm stories is connected to the Aarne-Thompson Tale Type Index and cross-referenced to a range of international material. On Chelm, see especially pp. 184, 189–194, and 472–473.
  77.  
  78. Find this resource:
  79.  
  80. Wodziński, Marcin. “Chełm.” In YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Vol. 1. Edited by Gershon Hundert, 309–310. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
  81.  
  82. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  83.  
  84. Provides a brief overview with further references of Chelm’s Jewish history between the 16th and 20th centuries. Also available online.
  85.  
  86. Find this resource:
  87.  
  88. Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm and His Golem
  89. The first Christian references to Elijah Baal Shem as a golem-creating rabbi in Chelm are in a letter by Christoph Arnold, quoted in Wagenseil 1674. Translated into German in Tentzel 1689 and reedited in Schudt 1714, it became influential for narratives about the golem in German literature (Gelbin 2011). Elijah’s descendent, Jacob Emden (Emden 2011), provides a sightly different narrative of the golem story in his autobiography, which—unlike Johannes Christoph Wagenseil’s version—does not feature the rabbi being killed by the golem. Various accounts of the creation of a golem by Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm are discussed in Scholem 1965, with great influence on subsequent scholarly literature. Scholem also introduced the idea that this legend was transferred to Judah Leyb ben Bezalel of Prague (“Maharal”), during the 19th century. Idel 1990 provides additional Jewish sources about Elijah Baal Shem. Kieval 1997 and Dekel and Gurley 2013 discuss in more depth the transfer from Elijah of Chelm to Maharal. Bloch 1920 contains fictitious stories about Elijah Baal Shem and his golem. Chajim Bloch was clearly inspired by the great success of his publication in German of the golem legends of the Maharal, which he had translated—without crediting his source—from Yudl Rozenberg’s Hebrew Sefer nifla’ot Maharal (Miracles of the Maharal).
  90.  
  91. Bloch, Chajim. Israel der Gotteskämpfer, der Baalschem von Chelm und sein Golem: Ein ostjüdisches Legendenbuch. Berlin: Benjamin Harz, 1920.
  92.  
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  94.  
  95. Framed, for literary effect, as if written by the grandfather of a Jew of Chelm in a World War I prisoner-of-war camp, Bloch’s book comprises a discussion of some 18th-century sources about Elijah of Chelm and his golem, including Emden 2011 and an account by Tsevi Ashkenazi, Emden’s father. The main section consists of thirteen stories of how Elijah created the golem, its wondrous deeds, and its destruction. Bloch’s “sources” for these tales are evidently of his own devising. Also available online.
  96.  
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  98.  
  99. Dekel, Edan, and David Gantt Gurley. “How the Golem Came to Prague.” Jewish Quarterly Review 103.2 (2013): 241–258.
  100.  
  101. DOI: 10.1353/jqr.2013.0015Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  102.  
  103. Article discusses the transfer of the golem legend from Chelm to Prague in the early 19th century, by analyzing early literary accounts.
  104.  
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  106.  
  107. Emden, Jacob. Megilat Sefer: The Autobiography of Rabbi Jacob Emden (1697–1776). Translated by Sidney B. Leperer and M. H. Wise. Baltimore: PublishYourSefer.com, 2011.
  108.  
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  110.  
  111. This is the translation of the manuscript held at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. Contains the earliest Jewish reference to a golem in Chelm, who works for Elijah Baal Shem as a slave and can be shut down by removal of the inscribed divine name. On the golem of Chelm, see p. 30.
  112.  
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  114.  
  115. Gelbin, Cathy S. The Golem Returns: From German Romantic Literature to Global Jewish Culture, 1808–2008. Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011.
  116.  
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  118.  
  119. Analyzes how Jewish and Christian accounts of the golem are intertwined. On the golem and Chelm, see pp. 67–68 and 92–94.
  120.  
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  122.  
  123. Idel, Moshe. “R. Eliyahu, the Master of the Name, of Helm.” In Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. By Moshe Idel, 207–212. SUNY Series in Judaica. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990.
  124.  
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  126.  
  127. This chapter discusses various sources on Elijah of Chelm and his golem, including a Hebrew manuscript by an unknown Polish kabbalist from the first half of the 17th century.
  128.  
  129. Find this resource:
  130.  
  131. Kieval, Hillel J. “Pursuing the Golem of Prague: Jewish Culture and the Invention of a Tradition.” Modern Judaism 17.1 (1997): 1–23.
  132.  
  133. DOI: 10.1093/mj/17.1.1Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  134.  
  135. Discusses the emergence of the golem legend and the reasons for its association with Judah Leyb ben Bezalel and the city of Prague.
  136.  
  137. Find this resource:
  138.  
  139. Scholem, Gershom. On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism. Translated by Ralph Manheim. New York: Schocken, 1965.
  140.  
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  142.  
  143. Discusses early modern Christian and Jewish accounts of Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm as a golem-creating Kabbalist and how these stories were eventually transferred to Judah Leyb ben Bezalel of Prague.
  144.  
  145. Find this resource:
  146.  
  147. Schudt, Johann Jakob. Jüdische Merckwürdigkeiten: Vorstellende was sich Curieuses und denckwürdiges in den neuern Zeiten bey einigen Jahrhunderten mit denen in alle IV Teile der Welt, sonderlich durch Teutschland, zerstreuten Juden zugetragen. Vol. 2. Frankfurt: Hocker, 1714.
  148.  
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  150.  
  151. Describes the golem phenomenon in the context of Jewish magic and mysticism, referencing the Talmudic source and Elijah Baal Shem’s activities. See Book 6, chapter 32, pp. 207–208. Also available online.
  152.  
  153. Find this resource:
  154.  
  155. Tentzel, Wilhelm Ernst. Monatliche Unterredungen einiger guten Freunde von allerhand Büchern und andern annehmlichen Geschichten. Vol. 1. Leipzig: Fritsch, 1689.
  156.  
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  158.  
  159. Contains an abbreviated translation of the letter from Christoph Arnold into German (see Wagenseil 1674). See pp. 145–146. Also available online.
  160.  
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  162.  
  163. Wagenseil, Johannes Christoph. Sota: Hoc est; Liber mischnicus de uxore adulterii suspecta; Una cum excerptis gemarae versione latina, & commentario perpetuo. Altdorf, Germany: Endterus, 1674.
  164.  
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  166.  
  167. Contains a letter from Christoph Arnold in which he describes the creation of a golem by Elijah Baal Shem of Chelm and how it eventually killed its creator. On the golem, see pp. 1198–1199. Also available online.
  168.  
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  170.  
  171. The Wise Men of Chelm
  172. God sent out an angel with a bag of foolish souls and orders to distribute them evenly everywhere—one fool per town. But the angel’s bag broke and all the foolish souls spilled out on the same spot. So goes the traditional explanation for the alleged concentration of folly in Chelm—a traditional explanation, however, documented no earlier than 1917. Nevertheless, the core stories told of the “wise men” of Chelm date back at least to the late Middle Ages and include a variety of sources.
  173.  
  174. Precursors
  175. The core stories of Chelm are not original to Chelm. They derive from various sources ranging from early modern folly literature to German and Jewish Enlightenment satire and were often first attributed to other imaginary or real towns, such as Abdera, Brody, Gotham, Laleburg, Poznan, Schildau, or Schildburg. The most prominent precursor is an early modern German popular prose novel of 1597, the Lalebuch (Ertz 1998). Starting with the second edition in 1598, it was often printed under the title Schildbürgerbuch. A 17th-century adaptation, which was published by an unknown editor using the nom de plume Pomponius Filtzhut, served as the source of an Old Yiddish translation (Filtzhut 1698). There are four surviving editions of the Yiddish Shildburger bukh (see Filtzhut 1700). In contrast to the first extant edition, which represents a mere transliteration of the German Schildbürgerbuch, the second exhibits more-imaginative changes, both in style and in content, and the Jewish redactor adds rhymes and occasional plot twists. Paucker 1959 provides a comprehensive survey of all extant Yiddish editions of the Shildburger bukh and comparison with a Filtzhut edition of the Schildbürgerbuch, and Paucker 1973 argues that the first two surviving Yiddish editions both draw on an earlier Yiddish version of Filtzhut’s German edition (see also Bernuth 2016, cited under General Overviews). German literature of the Enlightenment reworked the Schildbürgerbuch. An especially influential example of this trend is the History of the Abderites, as explored in Wieland 1993. It was on that account that Abdera was said to have been cast as the prototypical foolish town, and the word “Abderite” came into widespread use as a synonym for fool. The model proved highly attractive to eastern European maskilim. Between 1794 and 1806, Menachem Mendel Lefin wrote a now-lost Kantian philosophical treatise, as discussed in Sinkoff 2004, which he titled Nachlass eines Sonderlings zu Abdera (The literary remains of an eccentric of Abdera), identifying Brody with its consonantal anagram, Abdera. Lefin’s successor, Joseph Perl (Perl 1838), presumably based his work on Lefin, as documented in Meir 2013, and continued using the name Abdera for Brody. Dik 1867 combines maskilic satire with a selection of reworked stories from the Schildbürgerbuch in the author’s short piece on a town that he calls just by an initial—the Yiddish letter khes.
  176.  
  177. Dik, Ayzik Meyer. “Di khokhmes fun eyner gevisn shtot Khes.” In Blitsende vitsen oder lakhpilen. By Ayzik Meyer Dik, 18–19. Vilna, Lithuania: Dvorzets, 1867.
  178.  
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  180.  
  181. This book of humorous stories and jokes includes a group of six anecdotes that are devoted to the wisdom of “a certain town Khes.” Two of the most common “Chelm stories” are featured: the story of how the townspeople try to keep the snow untrammeled carrying their beadle around on a bed, and the story of how they try to capture the reflection of the moon, which is told twice. Also available online.
  182.  
  183. Find this resource:
  184.  
  185. Ertz, Stefan, ed. Das Lalebuch: Nach dem Druck von 1597 mit den Abweichungen des Schiltbürgerbuchs von 1598 und zwölf Holzschnitten von 1680. Universal-Bibliothek 6642. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1998.
  186.  
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  188.  
  189. Originally published in 1597, the book contains forty-five stories of the rise and fall of a town of wise men who decide to behave like fools. They manage to build a town hall without windows and eventually burn the place to the ground to get rid of a cat. This edition also contains the changes implemented in the second edition, which was printed under the title Schildbürgerbuch.
  190.  
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  192.  
  193. Filtzhut, Pomponius. Wunderseltzame Abentheuerliche/lustige und recht lächerliche Geschichte und Thaten der Welt-bekanten Schild-Bürger in Misnopotamia/hinter Utopia gelegen. N.p.: n.p., c. 1698.
  194.  
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  196.  
  197. A revised version of the Schildbürgerbuch, with style and content embellished in keeping with the 17th century. Its editor mockingly calls himself Pomponius Filtzhut.
  198.  
  199. Find this resource:
  200.  
  201. Filtzhut, Pomponius. Shildburger zeltsame unt kurtsvaylige geshikhte: Vunder zeltsame kurtsvaylige lustige un rekht lekherlikhe geshikhte un datn der velt bekantn Shild burger. Amsterdam: n.p., c. 1700.
  202.  
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  204.  
  205. This is the first of the four extant Yiddish editions based on a German Filtzhut edition of the Schildbürgerbuch. The second edition was printed in Amsterdam (1727); the third, in Offenbach, Germany (1777); and the fourth, in Fürth, Germany (1798). The third and fourth are abridged versions of the reworked second edition. The second edition is also available online.
  206.  
  207. Find this resource:
  208.  
  209. Meir, Jonatan. Ḥasidut medumah: ‘Iyunim bi-khetavav ha-satiriyim shel Yosef Perl. Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 2013.
  210.  
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  212.  
  213. Analysis of the anti-Hasidic writings of Perl. Includes also the discussion of an anonymous six-page manuscript in Perl’s library, whose plot strongly resembles that of Perl 1838 and his description of Abdera. On Abdera/Brody, see pp. 183–195.
  214.  
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  216.  
  217. Paucker, Arnold. “The Yiddish Versions of the German Volksbuch.” PhD diss., University of Nottingham, 1959.
  218.  
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  220.  
  221. Comprehensive discussion of all four extant Yiddish editions of the Shildburger bukh and a comparison with its German source text.
  222.  
  223. Find this resource:
  224.  
  225. Paucker, Arnold. “Di yidishe nuskhoes fun shildburger bukh.” YIVO Bleter 44 (1973): 59–77.
  226.  
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  228.  
  229. Concise discussion of all four extant Yiddish editions of the Shildburger bukh and a comparison with its German source text. Shows that the first two Yiddish editions are based on a lost edition of the text.
  230.  
  231. Find this resource:
  232.  
  233. Perl, Joseph. Boḥen tsadik. Prague: M. J. Landau, 1838.
  234.  
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  236.  
  237. A sequel to Perl’s Megale temirin, in which the town of Abdera—used as an anagram for Brody—and its foolish inhabitants make an appearance. On Abdera, see pp. 57–68. Also available online.
  238.  
  239. Find this resource:
  240.  
  241. Sinkoff, Nancy. Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands. Brown Judaic Studies 336. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2004.
  242.  
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  244.  
  245. Provides detailed analysis with the help of various sources of Menachem Mendel Lefin’s now-lost Nachlass eines Sonderlings zu Abdera (The literary remains of an eccentric of Abdera). On Lefin and Abdera, see pp. 116–117, 127, and 164.
  246.  
  247. Find this resource:
  248.  
  249. Wieland, Christoph Martin. History of the Abderites. Translated by Max Dufner. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 1993.
  250.  
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  252.  
  253. This literary text describes the foolishness of Abdera and provides a critique of its arts, including architecture and theater, as well as its religious and moral ideas. It uses some concepts from the Schildbürgerbuch and other works of early modern folly literature.
  254.  
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  256.  
  257. Early Literary Texts
  258. Before Chelm became widely associated with folly at the beginning of the 20th century, there were a few literary texts that helped form the new narrative of the town’s folly. The first association of Chelm with folly is in Dik 1922 (originally published in 1872; see also Dik 1867, cited under Precursors). The novel, which is set in Durathesok (foolstown), includes an addendum with stories about Chelm, which are in part based on older narratives from the Schildbürgerbuch, where the townspeople also sow salt (see Ertz 1998, cited under Precursors). Dik’s choice of Chelm was presumably fueled by his anti-Polish sentiments, as evident in Dik 1877. A different position is taken in Peretz 1947, Peretz 1990a, and Peretz 1990b. Yitskhok-Leyb Peretz’s three stories, written between 1889 and 1911, complicate the notion of wisdom and folly, and he is happy to acknowledge that to err is human. Subjects of Peretz’s Chelm tales are the classic maskilic targets of backward religious and educational functionaries. Peretz’s Chelm stories strongly influenced modern Yiddish writers (see Manger 2002 and Trunk 1951, both cited under Modern Fiction and Poetry, and Zeitlin 1933, cited under Theater and Film). A similar approach is taken in Bik 1887. The sole targets of this work, the first stand-alone volume to connect Chelm and folly, are a Hasidic rabbi and his wife and their life in a backward town.
  259.  
  260. Bik, Herts. Der Khelemer khokhem. Lemberg, Ukraine: J. Ehrenpreis, 1887.
  261.  
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  263.  
  264. The book contains five anecdotes, in which the Hasidic rabbi and his wife are the main protagonists. Except for one story, which tells how the rabbi believes himself to have traveled to another city without actually leaving his hometown, none of Bik’s stories enter the mainstream of repeatedly retold and reworked stories about Chelm.
  265.  
  266. Find this resource:
  267.  
  268. Dik, Ayzik Meyer. Der shivim moltsayt. Vilna, Lithuania: Rom, 1877.
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  271.  
  272. Includes a chapter on the situation of the Jews in Poland, as well as general remarks on Polish history, and mentions the saying “Khelem a shtot un Poyln a medine” (as Chelm is to towns, so Poland is to countries). On Chelm, see p. 46.
  273.  
  274. Find this resource:
  275.  
  276. Dik, Ayzik Meyer. “Di orkhim in Duratshesok.” In Geklibene verk. Vol. 1. By Ayzik Meyer Dik, 4.1–36. Vilna, Lithuania: Sh. Shreberk, 1922.
  277.  
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  279.  
  280. First published in 1872 by Rom in Vilna, this novella has an addendum in which several stories about the people of Chelm are told. Most are based on the Schildbürgerbuch, but they are heavily reworked and adapted to a Jewish milieu. Also available online.
  281.  
  282. Find this resource:
  283.  
  284. Peretz, Yitskhok-Leyb. “Der Khelmer melamed.” In Ale verk fun Y. L. Peretz. Vol. 2, Dertselungen, mayselekh, bilder. Edited by Shmuel Niger, 6–9. New York: CYCO, 1947.
  285.  
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  287.  
  288. When the yeytser hore (evil inclination) is captured, the world is at peace; no one sins. Thus, no one dies and no one feels motivated to marry and procreate. But the schoolteacher of Chelm gets a speck of ash in his eye from the burning corpse of the yeytser hore, and, thus reinfected, he eventually manages to reinfect the whole world.
  289.  
  290. Find this resource:
  291.  
  292. Peretz, Yitskhok-Leyb. “A Pinch of Snuff.” Translated by Maurice Samuel. In The I. L. Peretz Reader. Edited by Ruth R. Wisse, 251–258. Library of Yiddish Classics. New York: Schocken, 1990a.
  293.  
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  295.  
  296. The story describes a rabbi in Chelm who has never once sinned, much to the annoyance of Satan, whose acolytes set out to trip him up.
  297.  
  298. Find this resource:
  299.  
  300. Peretz, Yitskhok-Leyb. “The Shabbes Goy.” Translated by Etta Blum. In The I. L. Peretz Reader. Edited by Ruth R. Wisse, 131–138. Library of Yiddish Classics. New York: Schocken, 1990b.
  301.  
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  303.  
  304. The protagonist is the communal rabbi of Chelm, who is not good at giving practical advice, as Yankele discovers when he asks for help handling his nemesis, the town’s shabbes goy.
  305.  
  306. Find this resource:
  307.  
  308. Dictionaries and Ethnographic Collections
  309. Chelm was not the only town associated with Jewish folly, and 19th-century collections of proverbs such as Tendlau 1860 refer to other places, including Fürth, Prague, and Poznan. Wander 1873, a dictionary of German expressions, mentions the expression “Chelmer Narrunim” (the fools of Chelm) for the first time, on the basis of the author’s correspondence with the collector of Yiddish proverbs Ignatz Bernstein. In their own collection, Bernstein and Segel 1908 include various references to the fools of Chelm. In the Jüdisches Lexikon and thereafter, Chelm fools also appear in Jewish encyclopedias, as seen in Berkowicz 1927, but they are discussed only in the second edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica, as documented in Krakowski and Kalish 2007. The appearance of the wise men of Chelm around this time can be understood in the context of the late-19th- and early-20th-century western European admiration for eastern European Jewish culture. When German folklorists, inspired by such romantics as the Brothers Grimm, started in the mid-19th century to collect stories about foolish towns, Jewish folklorists in central and eastern Europe rapidly became interested in Jewish foolish towns as well. Ethnographic journals such as Am Urquell (see Schiffer 1892; Benjamin Wolf Schiffer was a pseudonym of Binjamin Segel) and Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde (see Grunwald 1898) as well as Zamlbikher far Yidishen Folklor (Pryłucki and Lehman 1912, Pryłucki and Lehman 1917) each published series of Chelm stories. Schiffer 1892 contributes an influential collection of Chelm stories to a series on “Abderite” towns in Europe, which include newly adapted versions of the German Schildbürgerbuch tradition. The stories are set in an entirely Jewish milieu, where the town hall had been transformed into the synagogue and the Christian mayor into the rabbi. Stories from Binjamin Segel’s collection circulated widely, and Pryłucki and Lehman 1917 translate some of them into Yiddish in this important collection, which features numerous newly recorded stories. Chelm tales became part of many oral and written collections of Jewish folklore—from the questionnaire circulated in Grunwald 1898 to the holdings of the Israel Folktale Archive, as seen in Ben-Amos 2007.
  310.  
  311. Ben-Amos, Dan. Folktales of the Jews. Vol. 2, Tales from Eastern Europe. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2007.
  312.  
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  314.  
  315. Includes an annotated story about the visit of a poor Jew who tricked the people of Chelm by claiming to be an emissary from the world to come. The tale is drawn from the Israel Folktale Archive. See number 64, pp. 452–458.
  316.  
  317. Find this resource:
  318.  
  319. Berkowicz, Michael. “Chelmer Narronim.” In Jüdisches Lexikon. Vol. 1, A–C. Edited by Georg Herlitz and Ismar Elbogen, 1355. Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag, 1927.
  320.  
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  322.  
  323. Brief entry on the fools of Chelm, with references to 1920s Chelm literature. Also available online.
  324.  
  325. Find this resource:
  326.  
  327. Bernstein, Ignatz, and Binjamin Segel. Jüdische Sprichwörter und Redensarten. 2d ed. Frankfurt: Kauffmann, 1908.
  328.  
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  330.  
  331. This is the heavily revised second edition of Bernstein’s collection of proverbs. It offers four examples of the proverbial use of Chelm in Yiddish. On Chelm, see pp. 110–110. Also available online.
  332.  
  333. Find this resource:
  334.  
  335. Grunwald, Max. “Aus unseren Sammlungen.” Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde 1.1 (1898): 1–116.
  336.  
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  338.  
  339. The material collected here came from responses to a questionnaire sent out in 1896 by the Society for Jewish Ethnography. Grunwald’s selection includes two Chelm stories and three proverbs. On Chelm, see pp. 46, 49, and 61–63. Also available online.
  340.  
  341. Find this resource:
  342.  
  343. Krakowski, Stefan, and Aryeh-Leib Kalish. “Chelm.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 4, Blu–Cof. 2d ed. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 588–589. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.
  344.  
  345. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  346.  
  347. Contains a brief entry on Chelm in folklore, pp. 588–589. Also available online by subscription.
  348.  
  349. Find this resource:
  350.  
  351. Pryłucki, Noah, and Shmuel Lehman. Zamelbikher far yidishn folklor, filologye un kulturgeshikhte. Vol. 1. Warsaw, Poland: Nayer Farlag, 1912.
  352.  
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  354.  
  355. As part of a collection of more than four hundred expressions or sayings about the supposed attributes of the Jews of specific towns, a number of idioms and proverbs connected to Chelm are listed. It also includes further anecdotes in the annotations on numbers 498 and 499. On Chelm, see pp. 40–41, numbers 491–499.
  356.  
  357. Find this resource:
  358.  
  359. Pryłucki, Noah, and Shmuel Lehman. Zamelbikher far yidishn folklor, filologye un kulturgeshikhte. Vol. 2. Warsaw, Poland: Nayer Farlag, 1917.
  360.  
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  362.  
  363. Contains a chapter on “Khelemer naronim” (fools of Chelm), which includes thirty-nine Chelm tales categorized in the postscript as Abderiten (Abderite stories), placing them in the European Schildburg/Abdera tradition. One of the best-known Chelm tales, the origin story of how an angel dropped all the foolish souls on one spot, which became Chelm, is recorded here for the first time. On Chelm, see pp. 187–210.
  364.  
  365. Find this resource:
  366.  
  367. Schiffer, Benjamin Wolf. “Abderiten von heute unter den Juden.” Am Ur-Quell 3 (1892): 27–29.
  368.  
  369. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  370.  
  371. Includes an introduction to foolish towns in Jewish tradition and seven Chelm tales—two of them already told by Dik (see Dik 1867, cited under Precursors). Four of the other anecdotes are from the tradition of the Schildbürgerbuch. Also available online.
  372.  
  373. Find this resource:
  374.  
  375. Tendlau, Abraham M. Sprichwörter und Redensarten deutsch-jüdischer Vorzeit: Als Beitrag zur Volks-, Sprach- und Sprichwörter-Kunde. Frankfurt: J. Kauffmann, 1860.
  376.  
  377. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  378.  
  379. One of the earliest collections of Jewish proverbs in German. Refers to European Jewish foolish towns (Prague, Metz, and Fürth) but does not mention Chelm. On Jewish foolish towns, see number 120, pp. 43–44. Also available online.
  380.  
  381. Find this resource:
  382.  
  383. Wander, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm, ed. Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon: Ein Hausschatz für das deutsche Volk. Vol. 3. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1873.
  384.  
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  386.  
  387. Chelm is one of the Jewish foolish towns mentioned. Indeed, this volume contains the first mention of the expression “Chelmer narrunim” (fools of Chelm) and also includes brief anecdote about the fool Khoyzek and the town of Chelm. On Chelm, see numbers 1173 and 1175, p. 930. Also available online.
  388.  
  389. Find this resource:
  390.  
  391. Newspapers and Journals
  392. Chelm’s reputation for folly became extremely familiar in the 20th century through the publication of Chelm stories in Yiddish and German in a variety of mass circulation newspapers and journals. The peak of this activity, manifested in the appearance of new stories, poetry, and essays, occurred during the interwar period. The Yiddish folksinger, ethnographer, and journalist Menakhem Kipnis played a central role in this process. In 1922 and 1923, he published a long series of Chelm articles in Poland’s leading Yiddish daily newspaper, Haynt (Kipnis 1922–1923), featuring material drawn from previous ethnographic collections (see Pryłucki and Lehman 1917, cited under Dictionaries and Ethnographic Collections) and many new tales, mostly of his own invention but some sent in by readers. With over sixty stories, Kipnis’s output remains one of the largest sequences of Chelm stories ever produced, and it had an everlasting effect beyond readers in Poland. Aside from Kipnis, individual stories by other writers were published in such newspapers and journals as Kinder Zhurnal (Alkvit 1925; see also Peretz 1990a and Peretz 1990b, both cited under Early Literary Texts). Bastomski 1929 started what became a ten-year series in which the author collected tales and jokes for one of the most read Yiddish children’s journals, Grininke beymelekh. In 1938, Miryam Ulinover published a series of poems in Haynt under the title “Songs from Chelm,” and further poems of hers on this theme appeared in the monthly journal Inzl (Ulinover 2003). Oguz 1911 informed the American readers of Der Morgn Zhurnal of Chelm’s notoriety, and one of the first scholarly treatments of the Chelm stories was published in the Warsaw literary journal Literarishe Bleter (Manger 1929). Newspapers also published stories by anonymous writers. Segel 1924, a Chelm story functioning as a critique of Zionism, was published in the Austrian Jewish journal Die Wahrheit. Segal 1966 is a series of Chelm stories for adults published in Forverts, in which Isaac Bashevis Singer, writing under the pseudonyms D. Segal and Yitskhok Varshavski, satirizes both communism and the West. Singer’s series of Chelm stories for children followed in the same newspaper in 1974, later translated and published in book form. Singer also published Chelm stories in English in the New York Times and the children’s literary magazine Cricket. Saltzman 2002 provides comprehensive bibliographic information on all of Singer’s stories, notably those published in newspapers and journals (see also Singer 1975, cited under Theater and Film, and Shmeruk 1995, cited under Children’s Literature).
  393.  
  394. Alkvit, B. “A mayse mit a shteyn: Fun di Khelmer mayses.” Kinder Zshurnal 5 (1925): 7–10.
  395.  
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  397.  
  398. Tells the story how the Chelmites follow the good advice of a stranger too literally, dragging the rock they just carried down a hill back up to the top so it can roll down by itself.
  399.  
  400. Find this resource:
  401.  
  402. Bastomski, Solomon. “Khelmer mayses.” Grininke beymelekh 3 (1929): 285–288.
  403.  
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  405.  
  406. This first article, with six anecdotes, became a series published at irregular intervals under various titles such as “Khelmer mayses” (Chelm tales), “Yidishe vitsn vegn Khelemer naronim” (Yiddish jokes about the Chelm fools), and “Mayselekh vegn Khelemer naronim” (Little stories about the Chelm fools) between 1929 and 1939. Bastomski uses previously published material as well as new stories, sometimes with a didactic touch. The entire collection was republished in three issues of Grininke beymelekh between 1938 and 1940. Also available online.
  407.  
  408. Find this resource:
  409.  
  410. Kipnis, Menakhem. “Fun der kluger shtot.” Haynt (14 July 1922–23 March 1923).
  411.  
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  413.  
  414. This influential newspaper series appeared almost every Friday between July 1922 and March 1923. Kipnis assumed the persona of the paper’s correspondent in Chelm, adding, for verisimilitude, legitimate details about Chelm to his faux reportage. When he reprinted his stories as a book in 1930, however, he deleted all references to the real city of Chelm’s geography, history, and current affairs. Also available online.
  415.  
  416. Find this resource:
  417.  
  418. Manger, Itsik. “Di Khelemer mayses.” Literarishe Bleter (17 May 1929): 376–378.
  419.  
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  421.  
  422. Comprises a discussion of the Chelm literature and a comparison of it to the German Schildbürgerbuch. Manger characterizes the Chelm tales as the “apotheosis of naïveté.” Also available online.
  423.  
  424. Find this resource:
  425.  
  426. Oguz, A. D. “A khokhme fun Khelemer kahal.” Der Morgn Zshurnal (28 November 1911): 5.
  427.  
  428. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  429.  
  430. One of the earliest American reports of Chelm’s reputation for folly. It includes a selection of Chelm anecdotes. Also available online.
  431.  
  432. Find this resource:
  433.  
  434. Saltzman, Roberta. Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Bibliography of His Works in Yiddish and English, 1960–1991. Scarecrow Author Bibliographies 105. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2002.
  435.  
  436. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  437.  
  438. Includes bibliographic information on all of Singer’s Chelm stories, whether published in English under the name Isaac Bashevis Singer or in Yiddish under any of his three pen names: D. Segal, Yitskhok Varshavski, and Yitskhok Bashevis.
  439.  
  440. Find this resource:
  441.  
  442. Segal, D. “Di ‘politishe ekonomye’ fun Khelm.” Forverts (10 March 1966).
  443.  
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  445.  
  446. This is the first story in a series of political satires set in Chelm, which Singer published under the pen name D. Segal between spring 1966 and spring 1967. For full bibliographic information, see Saltzman 2002.
  447.  
  448. Find this resource:
  449.  
  450. Segel, Binjamin. “Das Brillantendiadem: Eine Geschichte aus Chelm.” Die Wahrheit 40.43 (1924): 5–6.
  451.  
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  453.  
  454. Includes a few preexisting Chelm stories as well as a story of Segel’s own devising. The latter is meant to highlight the hardships faced by eastern European Jews dislocated at the end of World War I and the Russian Civil War, while drawing attention to the profligacy of the Zionist Keren Ha-Yesod (Palestine Foundation Fund). This piece was reprinted in the same journal in 1931 to commemorate his death. Also available online.
  455.  
  456. Find this resource:
  457.  
  458. Ulinover, Miryam. “Chélémiade.” In Un bonjour du pays natal: Poèmes. Edited by Natalia Krynicka, 210–228. Translated by Batia Baum. Paris: Bibliothèque Medem, 2003.
  459.  
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  461.  
  462. Contains eleven poems set in an imaginary Chelm, originally published in Haynt and Inzl in 1938. The eight poems in the Warsaw Yiddish daily newspaper Haynt appeared there as “Lider fun Khelm” (Songs from Chelm). The poems from Haynt are also available online.
  463.  
  464. Find this resource:
  465.  
  466. Anthologies and Humor Collections
  467. Collections of Jewish jokes began appearing, in various languages, at the end of the 19th century, and many such volumes included a selection of Chelm anecdotes, often as a separate chapter. Often, these jokes are versions and translations of previously published material, differing only in detail. Early examples are, in Polish, Lew 1898, and, in German, using what is evidently an oral source, Loewe 1920. Two important joke collections, Ravnitski 1922 (in Yiddish) and Druyanov 1922 (in Hebrew), went into multiple expanded editions, in which the amount of Chelm content also grows considerably. A couple of anecdotes in Romanized Yiddish are included in Olsvanger 1920. After the Second World War, many English-language anthologies of Jewish humor included a section with Chelm anecdotes and jokes. One of the most successful anthologies of Jewish humor to feature a chapter of Chelm tales was Ausubel 1948, which also retells Sholem Aleichem’s “Der farkishefter shnayder” (The enchanted tailor), relocating it to Chelm (see also Perl 1953, cited under Theater and Film). Similar Chelm sections are included in Learsi 1961 and Novak and Waldoks 1981. The most successful postwar collection of Jewish jokes in German, Landmann 1960, also includes a chapter on Chelm, as does Drożdżyński 1960, a Polish anthology.
  468.  
  469. Ausubel, Nathan. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, Wisdom and Folk Songs of the Jewish People. New York: Crown, 1948.
  470.  
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  472.  
  473. Brief introduction on fools and simpletons, with the Chelmites identified as the “ne plus ultra in simpletons.” The information on the origins of the Chelm tales and its German precursor is not reliable. Includes a chapter on “The Wisdom of Chelm.” The book had more than twenty reprintings. On Chelm, see especially pp. 320–321 and 326–342.
  474.  
  475. Find this resource:
  476.  
  477. Drożdżyński, Alexander. “O chełmskich mędrcach.” In Mądrości źydowskie. By Alexander Drożdżyński, 87–101. Warsaw, Poland: Wiedza Powszechna, 1960.
  478.  
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  480.  
  481. Includes thirteen Chelm stories. An expanded version was published in German translation in 1976.
  482.  
  483. Find this resource:
  484.  
  485. Druyanov, Alter. Sefer ha-bediḥah veha-ḥidud. Frankfurt: Omanut, 1922.
  486.  
  487. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  488.  
  489. The first collection of twenty-five Chelm tales in Hebrew, this was used immediately in Kipnis 1922–1923 (see under Newspapers and Journals). Some of Druyanov’s Hebrew anecdotes include learned references and reflect Talmudic debates, which many of the Yiddish collections do not. Later editions, which were published in British Mandate Palestine and in Israel, added many more Chelm anecdotes.
  490.  
  491. Find this resource:
  492.  
  493. Landmann, Salcia. Der jüdische Witz: Soziologie und Sammlung. Olten, Switzerland: Walter, 1960.
  494.  
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  496.  
  497. Popular postwar collection of Jewish jokes in German. The sixteenth edition was published in 2011 (Ostfildern, Germany: Patmos-Verlag). More Chelm jokes were added in later editions. On Chelm, see pp. 214–221.
  498.  
  499. Find this resource:
  500.  
  501. Learsi, Rufus. “The Monumental Wisdom of Chelm.” In Filled with Laughter: A Fiesta of Jewish Folk Humor. By Rufus Learsi, 74–156. New York: Yoseloff, 1961.
  502.  
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  504.  
  505. Comprises a substantial collection of Chelm tales, some of them Learsi’s own inventions.
  506.  
  507. Find this resource:
  508.  
  509. Lew, Henryk. “Nasza Abdera.” In Żydowski humor (ludowy), żydowscy dowcipnisie ludowi. By Henryk Lew, 51–70. Warsaw, Poland: H. Cohn, 1898.
  510.  
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  512.  
  513. A translation from German into Polish of Schiffer 1892 (cited under Dictionaries and Ethnographic Collections), it also includes a few previously unpublished stories.
  514.  
  515. Find this resource:
  516.  
  517. Loewe, Heinrich. Schelme und Narren mit jüdischen Kappen. Berlin: Welt-Verlag, 1920.
  518.  
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  520.  
  521. Tales gathered, apparently, from a (Yiddish-speaking) informant from Płock, in central Poland, but published in German with some Yiddish idioms, in Roman script. Most stories are already present in earlier collections, but they differ in many details, suggestive of the prominence of Chelm stories in Jewish oral culture in German and Yiddish shortly after World War I. The stories are commented on and connected to the German Schildbürger stories as well as other stories about Jewish foolish towns. On Chelm, see pp. 51–64. Also available online.
  522.  
  523. Find this resource:
  524.  
  525. Novak, William, and Moshe Waldoks. “The Wise Men of Chelm.” In The Big Book of Jewish Humor. Edited by William Novak and Moshe Waldoks, 21–25. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.
  526.  
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  528.  
  529. Popular collection in multiple editions, which includes a selection of short Chelm stories and jokes, with brief explanations. Twenty-fifth-anniversary edition published in 2006 (New York: Collins).
  530.  
  531. Find this resource:
  532.  
  533. Olsvanger, Immanuel. Rosinkess mit Mandlen: Aus der Volksliteratur der Ostjuden; Schwänke, Erzählungen, Sprichwörter und Rätsel. Basel, Switzerland: Verlage der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde, 1920.
  534.  
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  536.  
  537. Stories collected from Jewish students and refugees who came to Switzerland from Russia and Galicia. Two stories are about Chelm: the classic about how they captured the moon, and the lesser-known tale of the supposedly man-eating cat. Olsvanger also included Chelm anecdotes in his later anthologies on Jewish humor. On Chelm, see pp. 173–175, numbers 280 and 281. Also available online.
  538.  
  539. Find this resource:
  540.  
  541. Ravnitski, Yoshue Khone. “Khelmer naren.” In Yudishe vitsn. By Yoshue Khone Ravnitski, 199–207. Berlin: Moria, 1922.
  542.  
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  544.  
  545. Includes nineteen Chelm jokes. On Chelm, see numbers 399–417. An expanded second edition appeared in two volumes in 1950 (New York: Moyshe Shmuel Shklarski). On Chelm, see numbers 587–614. Also available online: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
  546.  
  547. Find this resource:
  548.  
  549. Modern Fiction and Poetry
  550. Chelm tales inspired many Jewish writers to compose prose and poetry primarily in Yiddish, but they also produced Hebrew, German, English, and Russian texts. Ayzik Meyer Dik and Yitskhok-Leyb Peretz contributed core literary texts (see Dik 1867, cited under Precursors, as well as Dik 1877, Peretz 1990a, and Peretz 1990b, all cited under Early Literary Texts). The popular myth that Sholem Aleichem and other modern Yiddish authors wrote Chelm tales originates in the fact that some well-known stories were transferred to Chelm (see also Perl 1953, cited under Theater and Film). During the interwar period, Poland became a center of Chelm literature from Jewish writers such as Moshe Broderzon (Broderzon 1921) and Itsik Manger (Manger 1933, Manger 2002). See also Ulinover 2003, cited under Newspapers and Journals, and Zeitlin 1933, cited under Theater and Film. After the destruction of Jewish life in eastern Europe, Chelm served not only as the proverbial town of fools, but also as a symbol commemorating the lost world. Chelm pinkes (the community record books) are often invoked as a fictitious source in prose and poetry. In the first Chelm novel, Trunk 1951, the town represents the destroyed world of the traditional shtetl, which is discussed in Rogovin 2009. English-language writers such as in Englander 1999 and Foer 2002 used Chelm or Chelm-like places in their Holocaust fiction. Chelm tales also played an important part in Yiddish poetry and inspired writers to compose Chelm poems. Glatshteyn 1944 and Merkur 1960 (see also Leib 1939, cited under Children’s Literature) offer examples of Yiddish Chelm poetry. Mandelbaum 1977 is a series of such poems in English.
  551.  
  552. Broderzon, Moshe. “Hinherplet: A Khelmer mayse-nora.” Nayer Haynt (24 March 1921).
  553.  
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  555.  
  556. Titled hinherplet (also hinerplet or himel plet in Yiddish, meaning a lethargic, sleep-like state), this is an epic poem about the journey to heaven of a melamed (teacher), the grandson of the Rabbi of Chelm. Also available online.
  557.  
  558. Find this resource:
  559.  
  560. Englander, Nathan. “The Tumblers.” In For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. By Nathan Englander, 25–55. New York: Knopf, 1999.
  561.  
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  563.  
  564. A group of Jews from the Chelm ghetto accidentally board a train for gentiles, disguise themselves as acrobats, and are eventually rescued.
  565.  
  566. Find this resource:
  567.  
  568. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Everything Is Illuminated. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
  569.  
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  571.  
  572. Some attributes of literary Chelm are transferred to Trachimbrod, the place on which the novel is centered.
  573.  
  574. Find this resource:
  575.  
  576. Glatshteyn, Yankev. Yosl Loksh fun Khelem. New York: Machmadim, 1944.
  577.  
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  579.  
  580. Contains six illustrated poems centered on Yoysef Loksh (Yosef Noodle) of Chelm. It also includes the sheet music for the first poem, composed by Henekh Kon. Also available online.
  581.  
  582. Find this resource:
  583.  
  584. Mandelbaum, Allen. Chelmaxioms: The Maxims, Axioms, Maxioms of Chelm. Boston: David R. Godine, 1977.
  585.  
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  587.  
  588. Organized into chapters, each contains a variety of poems about the wise men of Chelm, with references to classic literature as well as modern philosophy and natural sciences.
  589.  
  590. Find this resource:
  591.  
  592. Manger, Itsik. “Khelemer balade.” In Lamtern in vint. By Itsik Manger, 58–59. Warsaw, Poland: Turem, 1933.
  593.  
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  595.  
  596. This retells the story of how the people of Chelm captured the moon and describes the special relationship between Chelm and God. Also available online.
  597.  
  598. Find this resource:
  599.  
  600. Manger, Itsik. “The Rabbi of Chelm: May His Memory Be Blessed.” In The World According to Itzik: Selected Poetry and Prose. Edited and translated by Leonard Wolf, 218–224. New Yiddish Library. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
  601.  
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  603.  
  604. The story centers on the Rabbi of Chelm and how he brought justice to the town. A first version was part of Manger 1929 (cited under Newspapers and Journals). First published in the Naye folkstsaytung (1937), it was reprinted in abridged form in Noente geshtaltn (1938) but restored to full length in Noente geshtaltn un andere shriftn (1961). The Yiddish versions are available online and http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-books/spb-nybc200195/manger-itzik-noente-geshtaltn-un-andere-shriftn.
  605.  
  606. Find this resource:
  607.  
  608. Merkur, Volf. Di velt iz Khelem. Dos poylishe yidntum 148. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Tsentral-farband fun poylishe yidn in Argentine, 1960.
  609.  
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  611.  
  612. Includes a preface by A. Almi (Elye-Khayem Sheps) and a series of poems all related to Chelm.
  613.  
  614. Find this resource:
  615.  
  616. Rogovin, Or. “Chelm as Shtetl: Y. Y. Trunk’s Khelemer Khakhomin.” Prooftexts 29.2 (2009): 242–272.
  617.  
  618. DOI: 10.2979/pft.2009.29.2.242Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. This is the only scholarly article on Y. Y. Trunk’s novel, defining the process of creating a literary image of Chelm as “shtetlization.”
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624. Trunk, Yekhiel Yeshaye. Khelemer khakhomim oder yidn fun der kligster shtot in der velt. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Yidbukh, 1951.
  625.  
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  627.  
  628. This is an episodic novel consisting of seventeen stories, each divided into multiple chapters, and recurring figures. The subtitle, Mayses fun dem Khelemer pinkes, vos men hot nisht lang tsurik gefunen oyf a boydem fun a mikve (Stories from the record book of Chelm, found not long ago in the attic of a mikveh), reflects the desire to evoke a ruined past. Also available online.
  629.  
  630. Find this resource:
  631.  
  632. Children’s Literature
  633. Chelm stories did not start as stories written only for children; rather, they were written for a much-broader audience. During the 20th century, however, children’s literature became one of the dominant genres of the Chelm canon. Chief among the first Hebrew publications for children is Heilpern 1926. Illustrated by the Warsaw Jewish cartoonist Shaye Faygenboym, it was long one of the most influential Chelm books in Israel. Beginning in the 1920s, children’s journals such as Grininke beymelekh included Chelm stories (see Bastomski 1929, cited under Newspapers and Journals). Leib 1939 includes a couple of poems published in the same journal. In the United States, the first Chelm stories for children were printed in Yiddish. One example is Simon 1942, which later was heavily edited and translated into English (Simon 1945). Isaac Bashevis Singer is one of the most productive writers of Chelm stories for children both in Yiddish and English. Singer 1973 is a new political narrative about the history of Chelm, and Singer 1966 incorporates the fool-like figure of the Shlemiel into Chelm. His Chelm stories have been translated into many languages. Shmeruk 1995 discusses Singer’s contribution to the Chelm canon (for a bibliography, see Saltzman 2002, cited under Newspapers and Journals). Illustrated children’s books containing Chelm tales have become increasingly common since the 1970s. Many focus on well-known Chelm stories and Jewish holidays, notably Hanukkah and Passover, as in Adler 1997 and Glaser 2014 (see also Elswit 2012, cited under General Overviews). Driz 1969 is an important Russian translation by the avant-garde poet Genrikh Sapgir (b. 1928–d. 1999).
  634.  
  635. Adler, David A. Chanukkah in Chelm. Illustrated by Kevin O’Malley. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1997.
  636.  
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  638.  
  639. This illustrated children’s book tells the story how the community of Chelm is looking to get a table for the Hanukkiah.
  640.  
  641. Find this resource:
  642.  
  643. Driz, Ovsei. Khelomskie mudretsy. Translated by Genrikh Sapgir. Kemerovo, Russia: Kemerovskoe knizhnoe izdaltestvo, 1969.
  644.  
  645. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  646.  
  647. This popular Russian children’s book (expanded edition published in 2004 [Moscow: Paralleli]) was supposedly written by the Yiddish writer Shike Driz (Ovsei Driz) and was certainly translated, if not also written, by Genrikh Sapgir.
  648.  
  649. Find this resource:
  650.  
  651. Glaser, Linda. Stone Soup with Matzoh Balls: A Passover Tale in Chelm. Illustrated by Maryam Tabatabaei. Chicago: Albert Whitman, 2014.
  652.  
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  654.  
  655. Stone soup, a folk story, is transferred to Chelm during Passover time.
  656.  
  657. Find this resource:
  658.  
  659. Heilpern, Falk. Ḥakhme Ḥelm: Bediḥot ve-halatsot ʻamamiyot. Warsaw, Poland: Ahisefer, 1926.
  660.  
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  662.  
  663. Illustrated by Shaye Faygenboym, this is the first volume of collections with Chelm tales, and it is still reprinted in Israel today. A second volume, Ḥelm ve-ḥakhameh: Meḥubar be-ḥelko lefi mekorot ʻamamiyim (Chelm and its wise men: Complied in part from folkloric sources), appeared in 1937 in Tel Aviv.
  664.  
  665. Find this resource:
  666.  
  667. Leib, Mani. “Dos vunderferd: A Khelemer maysele in fersen.” Grininke beymelekh 13 (1939): 83–92.
  668.  
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  670.  
  671. A rich Jew, who became poor, travels to Chelm with his old horse. When the townspeople do not help him, he plays a trick on them by pretending that his horse could produce gold coins from behind. The poem was also performed as part of a vaudeville performance in 1936 in New York. A second Chelm poem by Leib was published in the same journal.
  672.  
  673. Find this resource:
  674.  
  675. Shmeruk, Khone. “Yitskhok Bashevis: Der mayse-dertseyler far kinder.” Oksforder Yidish 3 (1995): 233–280.
  676.  
  677. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  678.  
  679. This article discusses Singer’s Chelm stories for children and compares them with earlier tales.
  680.  
  681. Find this resource:
  682.  
  683. Simon, Solomon. Di helden fun Khelm. New York: Matones, 1942.
  684.  
  685. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  686.  
  687. Contains a collection of Chelm stories, which were meant to serve as a vehicle for teaching Yiddish.
  688.  
  689. Find this resource:
  690.  
  691. Simon, Solomon. The Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales. Translated by Ben Bengal and David Simon. New York: Behrman House, 1945.
  692.  
  693. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  694.  
  695. This book is a heavily edited translation of Simon 1942 by Simon’s son David Simon and Ben Bengal, with a completely new opening chapter and a sequence of Chelm jokes. In 1965, Simon published a second collection, titled More Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales. This version was published only in English.
  696.  
  697. Find this resource:
  698.  
  699. Singer, Isaac Bashevis. “The First Shlemiel.” In Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories. By Isaac Bashevis Singer, 55–65. Translated by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elizabeth Shub. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
  700.  
  701. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  702.  
  703. This story is given a Hanukkah setting, even though Chelm stories had previously made little or nothing of the Jewish holidays. It also introduces the Shlemiel to the Chelm canon.
  704.  
  705. Find this resource:
  706.  
  707. Singer, Isaac Bashevis. The Fools of Chelm and Their History. Translated by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elizabeth Shub. Illustrated by Uri Shulevitz. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973.
  708.  
  709. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  710.  
  711. This book is a translation of the 1972 four-part Yiddish series for children published in 1966 in Forverts. It tells the story of how Chelm came into being.
  712.  
  713. Find this resource:
  714.  
  715. Theater and Film
  716. Chelm tales became widespread in theater performances and film adaptations. Zeitlin 1933 is one of the earliest Chelm plays (now lost, according to Szeintuch 1993) and was performed in the Yiddish Art Theater in New York. Perl 1953 became an off-Broadway hit because of its success in translating Yiddish culture into English. Arnold Perl’s play was also broadcasted, and sound recordings of the play sold widely during 1950s and into the 1960s. Solomon 2013 describes it as a forerunner to Fiddler on the Roof. Literary Chelm texts are used as the source for theater pieces, musicals, and films. One of Mani Leib’s poems was put on stage in the Yiddish vaudeville theater (see Leib 1939, cited under Children’s Literature). Singer 1975 served as the basis for a musical adaption by the Yale Repertory Theatre, and Zilberman 2015 is loosely based on Driz and Sapgir’s Khelomskie mudretsy (see Driz 1969, cited under Children’s Literature). Chelm tales are often performed in amateur theater, especially by and for children. Chelm tales are also used as the basis of short films, among them Federenko and Newlove 1999 and Litmanovich 2005.
  717.  
  718. Federenko, Eugene, and Rose Newlove, dirs. Village of Idiots. VHS. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1999.
  719.  
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  721.  
  722. Animated short film based on a Chelm tale. The protagonist sets out to visit another town, falls asleep on his way, forgets from which direction he came, unwittingly walks home, and concludes that there is another Chelm, identical to his own. Available online.
  723.  
  724. Find this resource:
  725.  
  726. Litmanovich, Irina, dir. Helomskiye obychai. Moscow: Studio Shar, 2005.
  727.  
  728. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  729.  
  730. This is an animated short film based on a poem by Driz/Sapgir. Available online.
  731.  
  732. Find this resource:
  733.  
  734. Perl, Arnold. The World of Sholom Aleichem: Acting Edition. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1953.
  735.  
  736. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  737.  
  738. This successful play opened in Manhattan on 1 May 1953. The first act is titled “A Tale of Chelm.” Using Sholem Aleichem’s “The Enchanted Tailor,” it sets the story in Chelm, where a teacher goes to a town well known for its goats and is victimized by an innkeeper. The play was broadcasted in 1959 as part of Play of the Week. Sound recordings of the play were distributed in the 1950s and 1960s.
  739.  
  740. Find this resource:
  741.  
  742. Singer, Isaac Bashevis. “Shlemiel the First.” Acting edition by Peter Roberts. MA thesis, Yale University, 1975.
  743.  
  744. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  745.  
  746. This play is based on various Chelm stories. It served as the basis for Robert Brustein’s musical from 1994.
  747.  
  748. Find this resource:
  749.  
  750. Solomon, Alisa. Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. New York: Metropolitan, 2013.
  751.  
  752. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  753.  
  754. Discusses Perl 1953 and its contribution to the making of Fiddler on the Roof. On “A Tale of Chelm,” see pp. 67–68.
  755.  
  756. Find this resource:
  757.  
  758. Szeintuch, Yechiel. “Aharon Tsaitlin ve-hate’atron be-yidish: Al maḥazotav beyn shtey milḥamot ha-olam.” In Brener, Esterkeh, Vaitsman ha-sheni: Shelosha maḥazot. Edited by Yechiel Szeintuch, 11–56. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993.
  759.  
  760. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  761.  
  762. This chapter is the only scholarly article on Zeitlin 1933, and it discusses the two versions of the play, Di Khelemer komediye and the Khelemer khakhomim.
  763.  
  764. Find this resource:
  765.  
  766. Zeitlin, Aaron. “Arn Tsaytlin vegn zayn nayer pyese ‘Khelemer khakhomim.’” Literarishe Bleter (17 February 1933): 10.
  767.  
  768. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  769.  
  770. This article is a short description of Zeitlin’s play, which was not published, and no manuscript has been located. The playbill is at YIVO in New York, in the Maurice Schwartz Papers, YIVO, RG 498/4, 33.
  771.  
  772. Find this resource:
  773.  
  774. Zilberman, Boris. The King of Chelm. Directed by Gera Sandler. New York: National Yiddish Theatre, 2015.
  775.  
  776. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  777.  
  778. This children’s theater play is loosely based on Driz and Sapgir’s Khelomskie mudretsy. It is about a young boy who comes to rescue Chelm—a magic place with its own logic and inhabited by idiosyncratic figures. Available online.
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