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Jewish Folklore (Jewish Studies)

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  1.  
  2. Introduction
  3. Jewish folktales are an inseparable component of folklore. It is a creation of folk culture—of the larger segments of society, not by the learned only. It was created and transmitted over many generations and spaces by oral and written channels. Folktales are narratives that, as an outcome of their creation and repetition in different social groups and spaces, expose the basic characteristic of “multiple existence,” meaning that they always appear in various versions and forms. This is why the comparative study of folktales—the exposure and assessment of the variants in which all folktales exit—is the basic and continuous research method used in the field. Folktales belong to various literary genres: myth, fairy tale, legend, fable, joke, and more. Although all are “folktales,” each genre has its specific characteristics, literary structure, and social function, and each has been studied throughout the history of folkloristics using different methods and disciplines. Jewish folktales share these characteristics with general folklore; however, the Jewish folktale has its own history, conceptual and literary elements, and social functions. The history of Jewish folk narratives started not with the Hebrew Bible, as has been suggested, but with Israelite folklore, which existed long before the Hebrew Bible was written down. However, the Hebrew Bible is almost the only evidence of its existence, character, and meaning. Almost every book of the Hebrew Bible includes folk materials, from the myths that accumulate the Book of Genesis, to legends (Elijah and Elisha in 2 Kings), fables, and even traces of important narratives embedded in poetical chapters of the Bible. Every major historical and cultural period of Jewish history has created folktales, inherited folktales from previous periods, and transmitted them to the following one. They include Hebrew folktales in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; the rich and diverse folk narratives recorded in the Talmudic and midrashic literature; Jewish folktales of the Middle Ages, which touched on all aspects of Jewish life of the period, and opened new venues in vernacular languages—mainly Jewish-Arabic, Yiddish, and Jewish-Spanish dialects. In the early modern and modern periods, two new and major components entered the long and rich history of Jewish folktales. The first is Hasidic storytelling, which added a new theological interest to Jewish narrative. The second component is the secular one, which was an outcome of the new, secularized ideologies dominating modern Jewish history. It opened before Jewish storytelling a new cultural dimension that did not exist before. On the ruins of the rich Jewish life and culture in Europe before the World War II. These remnants which survived the European Holocaust of the Jewish people, together with the ingathering of the communities from Muslim countries and their specific culture, created the Israeli local identity and culture.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6. As an outcome of the long history of Jewish culture, general overviews that attempt to describe its narrative world are, as expected, complicated, and never complete or comprehensive. The first scholar, as far as we know, who coined the term “Jewish folk literature,” was not a folklorist, but the greatest bibliographer of Jewish studies. Steinschneider 1872 exposed, for the first time, the centrality of this branch of Jewish culture. It addresses mainly one component Steinschneider was interested in—the translations of Eastern and Arabic narratives into Hebrew, and the Jews as cultural bridges between East and West. An-Ski 1999 can be described as the opposite of Steinschneider’s work and character. An-Ski was not a “desk folklorist,” for he organized the first great folkloristic expedition into the Pale of Eastern Europe, and the narrative materials he collected there are still considered the basic data we have on Jewish folktales. Bergman 1919 (cited under Collections of Studies) and Bergman 1953 are among the first attempts to look at the narratives in the classical sources of Jewish culture, the Hebrew Bible and Talmudic-midrashic literature, as part of Jewish folklore. The work of Bernhard Heller (see Heller 1933–1934) was built mainly on the great anthology Ginzberg 1909–1928 (cited under Anthologies), which used the same materials. But Heller further developed this new perspective. Bin-Gorion 1949 placed Jewish folk narrative into the context of worldwide folklore, and exposed the main sources of Jewish folk narrative. Noy 1974, authored by the founder of Israeli folklore studies and one of the leading folklorists of the 20th century, places Jewish folk literature into the framework of Jewish and world folklore. Ben-Amos 1999 points to the importance of contemporary folkloristic research for the study of Jewish storytelling. This survey is also an effective evaluation of the rich research on Jewish folktales. Yassif 1999 is an attempt to present the place of Hebrew folk narrative in each one of the major periods of Jewish history since the Hebrew Bible, and to understand its function and place in Jewish society during each period.
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  8. An-Ski, S. [Shloyme-Zanvil Rappoport]. “Jewish Ethnopoetics.” With an introduction by Haya Bar-Yitzhak. Chulyot 5 (1999): 323–392.
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  11.  
  12. Originally published in Russian in 1908, by one of the first and most original of Jewish folklorists. The essay attempts, on the basis of materials collected during the famous “An-Ski Expedition,” to outline the special characteristics of Jewish storytelling. On An-Ski and his work, see Safran and Zipperstein 2006 (cited under Eastern Europe).
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  16. Ben-Amos, Dan. “Jewish Folk Literature.” Oral Tradition 14 (1999): 140–275.
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  19.  
  20. A survey of the history of Jewish folk literature from the Hebrew Bible to its modern manifestations in the modern world—in its various communities and languages. The importance of this overview is its use of recent methods of folkloristic and literary studies for describing and understanding Jewish folk literature at large.
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  24. Bergman, Judah. Ha-Folklore ha-Yehudi: Yedi’at ‘Am Yisra’el, ‘Emunotav, Tekhunotav u-Minhagav ha-’Amamiyim. Jerusalem: Reuven Mass, 1953.
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  27.  
  28. A general overview of Jewish folklore, including folk beliefs, folk customs, foodways, costumes, sacred places, and pilgrimage routes. However, the major part of the work is dedicated to Jewish folktales: the various languages, fables, sacred legends, folktales, and their moral teaching. Although this book was written mainly for popular information, it should be considered a genuine contribution to general overview of the field.
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  32. Bin-Gorion, Emanuel. Shviley ha-’Agada: Mavo le-’Agadot ‘Am shel ha-’Amim ve-shel Yisrael. Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1949.
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  36. An introduction to the theory of folk literature, and a survey of Jewish legend-lore. This was the textbook for the study of folk literature in Israeli universities for many years. Although in many aspects—mainly in the general folkloristic theory—it is outdated, it still has an important place in the history Jewish folkloristics.
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  40. Heller, Bernhard. “Ginzburg’s Legends of the Jews.” Jewish Quarterly Review 24 (1933–1934): 51–66; 165–190; 281–307; 393–418.
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  42. DOI: 10.2307/1451963Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  43.  
  44. Initially a review of Ginzberg 1909–1928 (cited under Anthologies), which turned into a seminal monograph on the multifaceted relationships between Jewish folktales—mainly the Talmudic-midrashic aggadah—and the narrative cultures in which Jewish communities (Egypt, Persia, India, Babylon) lived, and from which they borrowed and recreated their folk narratives. Continued in Jewish Quarterly Review 25 (1934–1935): 29–52.
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  47.  
  48. Noy, Dov. “Folklore, Jewish.” In Encyclopedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Keter, 1974.
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  51.  
  52. A general survey of the basic components of Jewish folklore, written by the founder of folklore studies in Israel. It includes a description and listing of texts and studies since the first traces of Hebrew folktales in the ancient Near East, to the latest manifestation in modern Israel and beyond.
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  55.  
  56. Steinschneider, Moritz. “Über die Volksliteratur der Juden.” Archiv für Litteraturgeschichte 2 (1872): 1–21.
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  59.  
  60. The first known labeling in modern Jewish Studies of the concept of “folk literature of the Jews,” and its first conceptual study, by one of the founders and central scholars of modern Wissenschaft des Juden. Steinschneider points here at the various forms of Jewish folk literature, and emphasizes the importance of borrowing and translating from other cultures as an essential component of Jewish culture—while the main vehicles were works of folk literature. Translated into Hebrew by Nitza Ben-Ari, with introduction and annotations by Eli Yassif, in Pe’amim 129 (2011): 161–200.
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  63.  
  64. Yassif, Eli. The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning. Translated from the Hebrew by Jacqueline S. Teitelbaum. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
  65.  
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  67.  
  68. A survey of Hebrew folk narratives from the Hebrew Bible to storytelling in modern Israel. The survey is organized by way of historical sequence of the major periods of Jewish history. It organizes the folktales along the major genres of folk narrative. The work attempts to point at the place, meaning, and function of folk narratives in Jewish history. Hebrew edition: Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1994.
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  71.  
  72. Bibliographies and Tale Type Indices
  73. Since the late 1960s, with the leadership of Dov Noy, folkloristic aspects of Jewish culture have taken a great step forward. Many studies all over the world have published in this field, including two bibliographies of research works: Noy 1969 was intended for university studies, and thus listed publications on the theory of folktales, as well as studies on Jewish folktales; and Yassif 1986, which attempted to list all known studies on Jewish folklore, not only folktales, since their beginning in the mid-19th century. Since it was published three decades ago, however, it could not be considered up to date. One of the most important achievements of the theory of folktale studies in the 20th century was the development of methods of classification, known as the Aarne-Thompson (AT) classification system. The first to use this method for the study of Jewish materials was Dov Noy in his dissertation of 1954. It related to one period of the long history of Jewish narratives: The Talmudic and midrashic period. The largest collection of Jewish folktales existing today is Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) at Haifa University, founded by Dov Noy in 1954. It includes about 26,000 texts, organized and classified according to the AT classification. Lists of folktales archived in the IFA, as well as comparative and scholarly observations, are provided in Jason 1965 and Noy 1966–1979. Scholarly journals are also an important branch of publications on Jewish folktales. There have been, over the history of research in this field, about twenty such journals, and they have had a central role in its development and achievements. However, they were never listed or studied methodically. A list of these journals, as well as major publications included in them, can be found in Yassif 1986.
  74.  
  75. Jason, Heda. “Types of Jewish-Oriental Oral Tales.” Fabula 7 (1965): 115–224.
  76.  
  77. DOI: 10.1515/fabl.1965.7.1.115Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  78.  
  79. The fruits of collecting oral tales from various oriental communities in Israel, their classification according to the Aarne-Thompson method, and their preservation in the Israel Folktale Archive. The classification is intensified by a series of introductions to the history of oriental Jewish folktales, and of the communities who created and narrated them.
  80.  
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  82.  
  83. Noy, Dov. Motif-Index of Talmudic-Midrashic Literature. PhD diss., Indiana University, 1954.
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  86.  
  87. Dov Noy’s dissertation, written under the supervision of the greatest folklorist of the time, Stith Thompson, is a groundbreaking research. For the first time in Jewish studies, the richest and most diverse body of narratives from the late ancient period—the Talmudic and midrashicaggadah, is classified, compared, and presented with modern methods and perspective.
  88.  
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  90.  
  91. Noy, Dov. Type Index of Israel Folktale Archives. Haifa: Haifa University Press, 1966–1979.
  92.  
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  94.  
  95. The oral tales of the communities of Israel were collected and archived in the Israel Folktale Archive (IFA), for over thirty years (at the time). Noy, the founder and leader of this huge project, together with other researchers in the IFA, classified and presented these texts according to the Aarne-Thompson classification system, and thus made them available for exploration and study.
  96.  
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  98.  
  99. Noy, Dov. Heker ha-Sippur ha-’Amami be-Yisra’el u-va-’Amim. Jerusalem: Akademon, Hebrew University, 1969.
  100.  
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  102.  
  103. One of the first scholarly bibliographies of studies on the practice and theory of folktale studies. It was mainly intended for students of the field, and was used as such for many years. However, it can also be considered a model for the later bibliographies of this field, and parts of it are still useful.
  104.  
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  106.  
  107. Yassif, Eli. Jewish Folklore: An Annotated Bibliography. New York and London: Garland, 1986.
  108.  
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  110.  
  111. An attempt to enlist and review all studies of Jewish folklore, from the mid-19th century to the early 1980s. The bibliography includes over 1,500 entries, in all languages in which the studies were published, and suggests a comprehensive overview of the state of research in this field.
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  114.  
  115. Anthologies
  116. The main venue by which folktales survive their oral phase, and by which they are exposed to research and the general public, is anthologies. The Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm anthology of fairytales (1812) paved the way and became the exemplar of which most folktale anthologies followed. In Jewish culture, dozens of anthologies of traditional folk narratives have been published since the early 19th century, mainly in Hebrew and German. Unfortunately, a list or comprehensive bibliography of these has not been created, and thus we can list here only the most influential ones, which represent the main periods of Jewish folk narrativity. First and formost of these is Ginzberg 1909–1928—the first comprehensive and scholarly anthology of biblical stories retold in later ages—mainly the Talmud and midrash. To Ginzberg’s work should be added Bialik and Rawnitzky 1909–1921, published at about the same time, but for completely other audiences and different purposes. These two authors, though mainly Bialik, are considered among the cornerstones of the Hebrew revival in the 20th century. The importance of their work for understanding Israeli culture has been assessed in many works and publications. Bin Gorion 1939–1945, by another great Hebrew writer, aimed to complete the work of Bialik and Rawnitzky, and add to it the rich and diverse folk narratives of Jewish culture of the Middle Ages. While the narrative materials included in the Talmud and midrash were well known, this was not the case with the Jewish medieval sources. Bin Gorion’s anthology exposed those rich narrative materials and opened them for discussion and study. To this anthology should be added the medieval anthologies themselves. Since the 9th century, as far as we know, collections of Jewish folktales were created and disseminated in the communities of both the Muslim East and Christian Europe. These medieval anthologies, or cycles of stories, are described and studied in Yassif 2004 (cited under the Middle Ages). The third successive historical anthology, Ben-Yehezkel 1936, is dedicated to one of the newest and richest branches of Jewish narratives—the Hasidic movement. Collecting materials from unknown and disappearing Hasidic booklets, and adding a rich corpus of learned notes, this anthology opened an important stage of the history of Jewish storytelling to both the general public and scholars. Another pathbreaking achievement in the history of documenting and archiving Jewish folktales is the Israel Folktale Archives (IFA), which documents over 26,000 folktales by Jewish and Arab storytellers in Israel (on this, see Hasan-Rokem 1998, cited under Folk Narratives in the State of Israel). The IFA also published a series of tales recorded in the archive (Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) Publications 1955–1981). However, the most impressive series of publications from the archive is the three-volume Ben-Amos 2006–2011. These volumes are organized according to an ethnic-linguistic classification, and a huge amount of essential information is provided in the introductions and notes. Elstein, et al. 2005–2013 could be considered a summary of information—variants, history, and study—of selected folktales, and a very effective tool for further studies in the field.
  117.  
  118. Ben-Amos, Dan. Folktales of the Jews. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006–2011.
  119.  
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  121.  
  122. This great project relates to the Israel Folktale Archives, as it takes its materials mainly from the oral tales recorded there and translates them into English. However, the editor of the series, Dan Ben-Amos, turns this anthology into a full folkloristic study by way of detailed introductions and intensive notes. Volume 1, Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion (2006); Volume 2, Tales from Eastern Europe (2007); Volume 3, Tales from the Arab Lands (2011).
  123.  
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  125.  
  126. Ben-Yehezkel, Mordechai. Sefer ha-Ma’asiot: Melukat mi-Sfarim u-mipi ha-Shmu’a. 6 vols. Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1936.
  127.  
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  129.  
  130. The central anthology of Hasidic storytelling—one of the most important chapters in the history of Jewish folktales. The anthology collects materials from the rich Hasidic literature, including the small, ephemeral booklets that were one of the most effective vehicles of transmitting Hasidic folktales to the general public. The anthology also uses the other venue of folktales—oral storytelling.
  131.  
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  133.  
  134. Bialik, Hayyim Nahman, and Yehoshua Chone Rawnitzky. Sefer ha-’Agada. Kraków: I. Fisher, 1909–1921.
  135.  
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  137.  
  138. This is the most influential treatment of Talmudic and Midrashic legend-lore in Israeli culture. As the main editor of this anthology was the Jewish national poet, the impact and popularity of the book and its messages were greatly increased. By translating the Aramaic stories into Hebrew, annotating them, and organizing them in a modern sequence, this anthology opened to new generations of Hebrew readers the gate of old Jewish storytelling. Second revised edition (Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1936). Translated by Chaim Pearl as Sefer ha-Aggadah: The Book of Jewish Folklore and Legend (Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1988).
  139.  
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  141.  
  142. Bin Gorion(Berdyczewski), Micha Joseph. Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales. Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik, 1939–1945.
  143.  
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  145.  
  146. This large collection of folktales is concentrated on materials created and retold in Jewish culture of the Middle Ages, and reflects strongly Jewish life and beliefs of that period. It should be considered a compliment to Bialik and Rawnitzky 1909–1921. Revised edition: Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1966. English Translation by I.M. Lask, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1976, 3 vols. An abridged and annotated edition by Dan Ben-Amos was published by Indiana University Press in 1990.
  147.  
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  149.  
  150. Elstein, Yo’av, Avidov Lipsker, and Rella Kushelevsky, eds. Enziklopedia shel ha-Sippur ha-Yehudi. 3 vols. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2005–2013.
  151.  
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  153.  
  154. The outcome of the school of thematology developed by Yo’av Elstein, this “encyclopedia” is actually a series of monographic studies of central Jewish folktales. The materials presented in these volumes—the lists of sources to each tale, the chronological maps and evaluation of studies—are helpful and effective for any further study of Jewish folktales.
  155.  
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  157.  
  158. Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews. 7 vols. New York: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909–1928.
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  161.  
  162. The pioneering anthology of Jewish storytelling, organized in the biblical sequence. The materials recorded and translated here were taken mainly from Talmudic and midrashic literature, as well as Second Temple literature, medieval late midrashim, and more. The texts in the main part of the book are followed by two volumes of intensive comparative notes, and a volume of detailed indices. This is one of the most influential and long-standing works in Jewish folktale studies.
  163.  
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  165.  
  166. Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) Publications. Haifa: Haifa Municipality Ethnological Museum and Folklore Archives, 1955–1981.
  167.  
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  169.  
  170. The IFA recorded throughout the years about 26,000 folktales from oral traditions in Israel. Selections were published mainly in two series: Khodesh Khodes ve-Sipuro (a tale for each month), and Shiv’im Sipurim ve-Sippur Mipi (tales from “the mouth” of different communities). Each tale published in these series was collected, and each is followed by comparative notes. The editor of most these publications was Dov Noy (see Dov Noy, Folktales of Israel, translated by Gene Baharav, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963).
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  173.  
  174. Collections of Studies
  175. There is a great difference between collections of studies selected and edited by the author himself, and collections made by another editor, in many cases years after the death of the author. In the first case, the author selected the publications he thought important, while in the latter case, only those publications that survived over time and were most influential are selected. Bergman 1919 is one of the earliest folklorists who thought his work was worthwhile to be collected and looked upon in a broader perspective. Gaster 1925–1928 is another important example of the first model. It is a collected work of one of the most prolific and influential folklorists from the beginning of the 20th century. In this case, a full committee decided what to include in the three-volume collection of some of his work. Schwarzbaum 1968 and Schwarzbaum 1989 represent both models: while the first includes essays the author collected and edited, the second anthology was assembled years after the authors death, and his publications were evaluated from later perspective. One of the very first real international conferences on Jewish folklore took place in Boston in 1978. It assembled theoretical folklorists, scholars of the history of Jewish folklore, ethnologists, and more. The important presentations of this conference are presented in Noy and Talmage 1980. Scheiber 1985 and Sadan 1990 are examples of the work of erudite scholars for whom folklore was only a marginal part of their work. However, their mastery of very broad areas of Jewish and European culture brought into the study of Jewish folktales new and unexpected insights. Jason 1975 is the opposite case: this is a collection of essays by a professional folklorist, using the most recent methods of folk literature research and thus opening Jewish materials to the general community of scholars.
  176.  
  177. Bergman, J.[udah]. Die Legenden der Juden. Berlin: C.A. Schwetschke & Sohn, 1919.
  178.  
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  180.  
  181. A collection of studies by chief rabbi of Berlin in the early 20th century, who was also a renowned folklorist. It includes studies of some of the major themes of Jewish folk literature, such as angels and demons, the holy men, the dead and their world, the prophet Elijah, travels to heaven and hell, animals in Jewish legends, and more.
  182.  
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  184.  
  185. Gaster, Moses. Studies and Texts in Folklore, Magic, Medieval Romance, Hebrew Apocrypha and Samaritan Archaeology. 3 vols. London: Maggs, 1925–1928.
  186.  
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  188.  
  189. A collection of essays by one of the most prolific and influential scholars of Jewish folklore. This large and varied collection is evidence of Gaster’s great erudition, of his involvement in the modern developments of folkloristics, and of his seminal contribution to Jewish culture at large. This anthology of essays includes seminal texts from medieval manuscripts, theoretical observations, and comparative studies of Jewish folk books and folktales.
  190.  
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  192.  
  193. Jason, Heda. Studies in Jewish Ethnopoetry: Narrating, Art, Content, Message, Genre. Taipei: Chinese Association for Folklore, 1975.
  194.  
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  196.  
  197. A collection of essays published in professional journals since 1966. It is one of the first books to apply structural and generic research methods to the study of Jewish folktales. Through studies of folktales recorded in the IFA, the author suggests poetical, generic, and structural concepts for the theory of the study of folk literature.
  198.  
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  200.  
  201. Noy, Dov, and Frank Talmage, eds. Studies in Jewish Folklore: Proceedings of a Regional Conference of the Association for Jewish Studies held at the Spertus College of Judaica, Chicago, May 1–3, 1977. Cambridge, MA: Association for Jewish Studies, 1980.
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  204.  
  205. The collection includes some general essays, by leading folklorists of the time, on the definition and characteristics of Jewish folklore. More essays are dedicated to studies of ethnic folklore as well as in-depth studies of specific folktales. The importance of this collection, which followed the first international conference of the field, is its application of general theoretical concepts to specific Jewish materials.
  206.  
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  208.  
  209. Sadan, Dov. Shay ‘Olamot: 12 Mekhkrey Folklore. Edited by Dov Noy. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1990.
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  212.  
  213. A collection of twelve essays, out of many hundreds, of one of the most erudite scholars in Yiddish and Hebrew culture. The collection deals with the relationships between Jews and Christians in eastern Europe, and the complex relationship between folktales and proverbs and folk customs. The author opposes the separation of “literature” into artistic and folk literatures, and demonstrates the cross-movement of motifs and themes between the two.
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  216.  
  217. Scheiber, Alexander. Essays on Jewish Folklore and Comparative Literature. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1985.
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  220.  
  221. Scheiber’s essays on Jewish folklore published in Hebrew, German and English since the 1940s, are collected here. They deal with rabbinic aggadah, medieval storytelling, and modern Jewish folklore, compared to variants in many cultures and languages. Most essays included here are short notes aimed to demonstrate the cross-cultural character of Jewish folklore.
  222.  
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  224.  
  225. Schwarzbaum, Haim. Studies in Jewish and World Folklore. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1968.
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  228.  
  229. The book is organized as a series of comparative studies of a large collection of Yiddish folktales (Naftoli Gross, Mai’selech un Mesholim). However, it is a seminal contribution to the comparative study of Jewish folktales at large, with huge detailed exposure of texts and studies in the general field of Jewish folklore. The very detailed indices and bibliographical notes appended to this book are helpful tools for any comparative study of Jewish folktales.
  230.  
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  232.  
  233. Schwarzbaum, Haim. Jewish Folklore between East and West. Edited and introduced by Eli Yassif. Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University Press, 1989.
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  236.  
  237. Some of the influential studies by one of most erudite scholars of Jewish folktales are collected in this book. The general theme of the essays is the place of Jewish folklore between Eastern, Muslim folklore and Western Christian culture. The essays included deal with motifs and themes widespread in Jewish folk culture.
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  240.  
  241. History
  242. The long history of Jewish folk narrative started as early as the oral traditions inserted into the Hebrew Bible, and continues into contemporary storytelling in Israel and in other Jewish communities all over the world. The recurring feature of this long history is its continuity: in each period, we find traces and influences of previous periods. This important element is described in detail in Yassif 1999 (cited under General Overviews). In spite of this continuity, we have no choice but to divide the history of Jewish folk narratives into historical periods—corresponding with the history of Judaism and the Jewish people. The following is divided accordingly into five sections: folk narrative in the Hebrew Bible; the Talmudic and Midrashic Aggadah; Hebrew, Jewish-Arabic, and Yiddish storytelling in the Middle Ages; Early Modern and Hasidic Storytelling; and Modern World Storytelling (this last category, because of the extensive research involved, is given a separate main heading, with subheadings following it). It has to be clear that the periodical histories of Jewish storytelling cannot be separated from its history and culture. Studies of Jewish culture and literature of every category can be evaluated in other chapters of the Oxford Bibliographies.
  243.  
  244. The Hebrew Bible
  245. The earliest ideas to look at stories in the Hebrew Bible as folktales were suggested already in mid-19th century, and they are described in Yassif 1987. However, only the work of the biblical scholar Herman Gunkel (Gunkel 1987, originally published 1910), and the great anthropologist Sir James Frazer (Frazer 1918) opened this venue of research to the general community of biblical scholars. The directions suggested by them were developed and enlarged by many other scholars, as described in Kirkpatrick 1988. The recent theories for the study of folk traditions—the oral/written theory and the contextual approaches—are described and adopted in Zakovich 1981 and Nidich 1993.
  246.  
  247. Frazer, James G. Folklore in the Old Testament. 3 vols. London: Macmillan, 1918.
  248.  
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  250.  
  251. One of the greatest anthropologists of the turn of the 20th century, Frazer followed his great work on Greek mythology, The Golden Bough, with this work dedicated to the comparative study of biblical narrative. As developed by him and other comparative anthropologists, a large selection of biblical tales are compared to similar narratives around the ancient and modern world, and these biblical narratives are interpreted on basis of this comparative method.
  252.  
  253. Find this resource:
  254.  
  255. Gunkel, Herman. The Folktale in the Old Testament. Translated by Michael D. Rutter. Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987.
  256.  
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  258.  
  259. A pathbreaking work that continued Gunkel’s conclusions in his 1910 introduction to the Book of Genesis. He presented here the main genres of biblical narratives: fables, humor, magic tales, family tales, tales about nature, etc., and considered these oral folktales as the basis of a biblical worldview, and as the basis for understanding the creation of the biblical corpus.
  260.  
  261. Find this resource:
  262.  
  263. Kirkpatrick, Patricia G. The Old Testament and Folklore Study. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1988.
  264.  
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  266.  
  267. A survey of the main approaches to the Hebrew Bible, with tools and methods of folkloristic study. The book presents the main scholars and their cultural context, the implications of these studies, and the heavy debates that followed them.
  268.  
  269. Find this resource:
  270.  
  271. Nidich, Susan. Folklore and the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993.
  272.  
  273. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  274.  
  275. Using recent folkloristic observations and achievements—oral and written, genre theory, comparative, structural, and contextual—this book suggests a different perspective of what could be defined as folkloric manifestations in the Hebrew Bible, and in the cultural world in which it was created and acted.
  276.  
  277. Find this resource:
  278.  
  279. Yassif, Eli. “Mekh’kar ha-folklore ve-Kheker ha-Mikra.” World Union of Jewish Studies 27 (1987): 3–16.
  280.  
  281. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  282.  
  283. A study of folklore and biblical research. A survey of the studies, since the late 19th century, of folkloristic approaches to the biblical text. The survey attempts to locate these studies in the history and developments of the folkloristic discipline, as well as in the history of Jewish studies.
  284.  
  285. Find this resource:
  286.  
  287. Zakovich, Yair. “Mi-Sippur she-be’al pe le Sippur she-bichtav ba-Mikra.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 1 (1981): 9–43.
  288.  
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  290.  
  291. An influential essay that attempts to present the evidences of oral transmission in the Hebrew Bible, and how these traditions were transformed by writing them down. The essay is based on some previous studies, which attempted to understand the complex relationships of oral and written texts in the Bible.
  292.  
  293. Find this resource:
  294.  
  295. Talmudic and Midrashic Aggadah
  296. Among the great variety of materials in Talmudic and midrashic literature, folk narrative has a noticeable place. Stories appear in each section of the Talmud. They are inserted into the halakhic legal discussions, in the public sermons, or derashot, and the moral and historical parts of the text, and in collections of tales gathered around a theme or a figure, some of them including dozens of tales. Ben-Amos 1980, Hasan-Rokem 2000, and Yassif 2006 suggest general observations on storytelling in Talmudic literature. These surveys of folk narrative in the rabbinic world are based on recent folk narrative theories, such as the genre theory, the oral/written observations, and multilevel research, using comparative, historical, contextual, and literary methods, and applying them to a certain text or texts. Hasan-Rokem 2009 raises a basic theoretical question, asking whether the Rabbis were aware of the implications of folklore in their work. Some scholars, central in this type of study, have published many important works in the field, and not all of them could be mentioned here. Thus, bibliographies of their work have been cited (when they exist); notably the large publications of Dov Noy (Heichal 1983), and Hasan-Rokem 2013. While most studies of these folk narratives run through the documents, either Talmudic tractates or midrashim, very few are dedicated to a comprehensive study of folk narrative in one document. Such are Hasan-Rokem 2000, on Midrash Eichah Rabba (the midrash on the Book of Lamentations), and Stein 2005, on Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer.
  297.  
  298. Ben-Amos, Dan. “Talmudic Tall Tales.” In Folklore Today—A Festschift for Richard M. Dorson. Edited by Lindah Dégh and Henry Glassie, 25–43. Bloomington: Indiana Semiotic Sciences, 1976.
  299.  
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  301.  
  302. One of the outstanding genres of Talmudic folk narrative is the tall tale, especially the Rabbah bar bar Hana cycle of fantastic tales. These unexpected traditions, to be found in a legal work such as the Talmud, are described and analyzed in the light of contemporary folkloristic and generic methods.
  303.  
  304. Find this resource:
  305.  
  306. Ben-Amos, Dan. “Generic Distinctions in the Aggadah.” In Studies in Jewish Folklore. Edited by Dov Noy and Frank Talmage, 45–71. Cambridge, MA: Association for Jewish Studies, 1980.
  307.  
  308. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  309.  
  310. Using the research methods of generic distinctions in folklore studies, the work defines and classifies the Talmudic and midrashic narratives. The author demonstrates how generic classification helps to understand the story’s meaning for the narrating society.
  311.  
  312. Find this resource:
  313.  
  314. Hasan-Rokem, Galit. Web of Life: Folklore and Midrash in Rabbinic Literature. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000.
  315.  
  316. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  317.  
  318. The book presents the folkloristic approaches to midrashic narrative in six contextual chapters: the literary, the generic, the comparative, the social, the religious, and the historical. It dedicates each discussion to one central text, and demonstrates the importance of these approaches to understanding Jewish folktales of Late Antiquity.
  319.  
  320. Find this resource:
  321.  
  322. Hasan-Rokem, Galit. “Did the Rabbis Recognize the Category of Folk Narrative?” European Journal of Jewish Studies 3 (2009): 19–55.
  323.  
  324. DOI: 10.1163/102599909X12471170467286Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  325.  
  326. This seminal question is examined here on basis of hermeneutical observations. However, the discussion in this article does not limit itself to theoretical observation only, but examines, for this purpose, some chains of stories from the Babylonian Talmud. It concludes that the Rabbis had what could be called “a meta-folkloric awareness.”
  327.  
  328. Find this resource:
  329.  
  330. Hasan-Rokem, Galit. “Reshimat Pirsumim be-Kheker ha-Yetzira ha-’Amamit be-Sifrut Khazal.” In Mirkamim: Tarbut, Sifrut, Folklore: Le-Galit Hasan-Rokem. Edited by Hagar Salamon and Avigdor Shinan, 13–17. Jerusalem: Mandel Institute for Jewish Studies, 2013.
  331.  
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  333.  
  334. Over forty entries are listed here, of the publications and studies of Hasan-Rokem, one of the central researchers in the field of folktales in Rabbinic literature. Her contributions include seminal methodological discussions, as well as particular studies of specific tales and their context.
  335.  
  336. Find this resource:
  337.  
  338. Heichal, Edna. “Reshimat Kitvey Dov Noy be-Kheker ha-Folklore ve-ha-Aggadah ha-Talmudit-Midrashit.” In Studies in Aggadah and Jewish Folklore. Edited by Issachar ben-Ami and Joseph Dan. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1983.
  339.  
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  341.  
  342. The list includes about two hundred citations of the studies of Dov Noy since the 1950s in this field. The publications include some theoretical observations on the close ties between midrashic narrative and folklore. However, its main contribution, in most headings here, is a close reading of dozens of tales discussed and interpreted from a folkloristic perspective.
  343.  
  344. Find this resource:
  345.  
  346. Stein, Dina. Mimra’h, Magiya’h, Mitos: Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer le-or Mekh’kar ha-Sifrut ha-’Amamit. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2005.
  347.  
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  349.  
  350. One of the first in-depth study of one midrashic work—the Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer. The work discusses the various folkloric aspects of this midrash: myth, magic, proverb, and legend. This particular study has further implications on the folkloristic study of other midrashim.
  351.  
  352. Find this resource:
  353.  
  354. Yassif, Eli. “Jewish Folk Literature in Late Antiquity.” In The Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 4, The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. Edited by Steven T. Katz, 721–748. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  355.  
  356. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  357.  
  358. A survey of the main folk narrative genres and themes that entered Talmud and midrash from “the market place,” as the rabbis called it. An attempt was made here to point at the importance of this approach for understanding the construction of the Talmudic text and its social function.
  359.  
  360. Find this resource:
  361.  
  362. The Middle Ages
  363. The world of Jewish storytelling in the Middle Ages stood for many years in the shadow of Hebrew poetry of the period, although scattered studies of specific stories were published beginning in the mid-19th century. For an evaluation of these studies, see Yassif 2002. It was not until late 1960s that this area was established as a legitimate branch of Jewish literature. The pioneering publication was Dan 1974, which established the foundations of the field, as well as its methods and goals. An exemplary work emerging from Dan’s direction is Alexander-Frizer 1991. The work concentrates on one movement and its representative work: Sefer Hasidim, and it deals, for the first time, not with its theological or moral teachings, but with its narrative content. Another direction pointed to by Dan’s work is the centrality of the medieval, Jewish collections of tales for the history of Jewish narratives. This path was investigated in Yassif 2004, which was followed by a series of critical editions of important collections: Kushelevsky 2010 and Yassif 2013. As Dan’s initiative dealt only with the Hebrew story, it is important to emphasize that Jewish folktales in the vernaculars were almost neglected. The Yiddish stories were already dealt with in Maitlis 1961, and followed by the important Zfatman 1993. However, medieval Jewish storytelling in other vernaculars—Jewish-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish—are still an expectation for future studies.
  364.  
  365. Alexander-Frizer, Tamar. The Pious Sinner: Ethics and Aesthetics in the Medieval Hasidic Narrative. Tübingen, Germany: J.C.B. Mohr, 1991.
  366.  
  367. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  368.  
  369. One of the first in-depth studies of the corpus of tales created in medieval Germany in the circle of R. Judah the Pious and his Hasidic movement. The book discusses the historical and ideological contexts of the tales, and compares them to their variants in Jewish and world literature. On the theoretical level, this book explores the ideological impact on changes made to folktales.
  370.  
  371. Find this resource:
  372.  
  373. Dan, Joseph. Ha-Sippur ha-Ivri bi-Ymey ha-Beinayim: Iyyunim be-Toldotav. Jerusalem: Keter, 1974.
  374.  
  375. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  376.  
  377. A pathbreaking survey, which coined the phrase “The Hebrew Story in the Middle Ages,” and started a new approach to the history of Hebrew literature. The book presents the main sources of medieval Hebrew narratives, and discusses some central tales. It opens with an essay that locates Hebrew narratives of the period within the history of Hebrew literature, and within the historical context of the time.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381. Kushelevsky, Rella. Sigufim u-Pitu’yim: Ha-Sippur ha-Ivri be-Ashkenaz. Jerusalem: Magnes, 2010.
  382.  
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  384.  
  385. On the basis of a Hebrew collection of tales from medieval Germany, this book opens paths for understanding the life, beliefs, and history of the Jewish communities of that place and time. The book concentrates on thirteen folktales—among the most known narrative texts of the time—and explores their sources in Hebrew classical writings, compares them to other variants, and locates them in the European cultural context.
  386.  
  387. Find this resource:
  388.  
  389. Maitlis, Jacob. Di Shevohim fun Rabbi Shmuel un Rabbi Yudah Chosid. London: Kedem, 1961.
  390.  
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  392.  
  393. One of the most important sources of Jewish medieval folktales is the great Yiddish collection known as the Mayseh Bukh. This study by Maitlis collects the original Yiddish texts, describes their literary and historical contexts, and confronts them with their variants in Jewish and European cultures.
  394.  
  395. Find this resource:
  396.  
  397. Yassif, Eli. “The Study of Medieval Hebrew Narrative.” In The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies. Edited by Martin Goodman, 270–294. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  398.  
  399. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  400.  
  401. A survey of the major texts and studies published on Hebrew narratives of the Middle Ages since the 19th century. The survey defines the main research directions, either literary or folkloristic, and their relation to the historiography of the time, and also notes what future studies in the field should be aware of.
  402.  
  403. Find this resource:
  404.  
  405. Yassif, Eli. Ke-Margalit be-Mishbetzet: Kovetz ha-Sipurim ha-Ivri bi-Yemey ha-Beina’yim. Tel-Aviv: Ha-Kibutz Ha-Meuchad, 2004.
  406.  
  407. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  408.  
  409. Examines Hebrew collections of tales from the Middle Ages. Collections of tales started to appear already in Talmudic-midrashic literature, and continued throughout the Middle Ages and well into modern times. They are the main source for our knowledge of folktales and their function in the various periods and various Jewish communities. The book presents a series of studies dedicated to each of the main collections of folktales created at the time.
  410.  
  411. Find this resource:
  412.  
  413. Yassif, Eli. Me’ah Sippurim Khaser Echad: Agadot Ktav Yad Yerushalayim ba-Folklor ha-Yehudi shel Yemei ha-Beinayim. Tel-Aviv: Tel-Aviv University Press, 2013.
  414.  
  415. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  416.  
  417. A collection of ninety-nine tales copied in a 16th-century manuscript, but belonging to 13th-century Ashkenaz, is published critically. The importance of this collection of folktales is that it represents most themes and genres of Jewish medieval storytelling. Each tale is published here with an apparatus of comparative notes, followed by a series of essays dealing with this collection’s historical context and cultural importance.
  418.  
  419. Find this resource:
  420.  
  421. Zfatman, Sara. Bein Ashkenaz le-Sefarad: Le-Toldot ha-Sippur ha-Yehudi Biymey ha-Beinayim. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1993.
  422.  
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  424.  
  425. On the surface, the book deals with only one medieval folktale: “A Tale of a Bride and Two Bridegrooms.” However, through this impressive medieval tale, it opens a large perspective on the place of Jewish storytelling in medieval life and beliefs. However, the considerable contribution and achievement of this book is its emphasis on the tangled relationships between the Hebrew and Yiddish narratives of the Middle Ages.
  426.  
  427. Find this resource:
  428.  
  429. Early Modern and Hasidic Storytelling
  430. The time limits of the early modern period in Jewish history is debated, and the bordering lines between the previous period—the Middle Ages—and the forthcoming one—the modern era, are flimsy and vague. Thus, the Hasidic rich world of storytelling—most of it created in the early 19th century was included in this chapter. The main reason is its character, which follows on the footsteps of medieval storytelling. In Hasidic narratives, this is ostensibly more than in any modern Jewish traditional culture or literature. Dan 1975 and Nigal 1981 are general surveys of the sources, themes, and literary character of this rich corpus of tales. These works demonstrate both the dependency of the Hasidic movement on medieval Jewish storytelling, and on the deep-rooted ideology that made Hasidic storytelling a central component of this movement (see also the Oxford Bibliographies entry on “Hasidism”). The exemplary critical edition of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav (Mark 2014) proves, however, the affinity of these texts to earlier Jewish storytelling, and also exposes the individual creativity of one author—and as such belongs to the modern era of Jewish storytelling. To this period of transition belongs also the rich and original narrative world of 16th-century Safed. The exemplary critical edition of the ‘Ari’s (Rabbi Issac Luria, founder of a branch of the Kabbalah) legends in Benayahu 1967, and the folkloristic analysis of the same corpus in Yassif 2011, present an attempt to expose these important narratives in a new light. Wineman 1988 suggests looking at another, unexpected, source for Jewish traditional narratives—the mystical and moral writings of the early modern period. Although these narratives were not created and told for literary or cultural reading, they constitute an important branch of Jewish narrative of the period. This period was also the peak of Yiddish storytelling. Most outstanding among these is one of the most popular and large collections of Jewish folktales—the great collection of Yiddish tales called the Mayseh Bukh (1602). Due to its centrality, it has been extensively studied: see, for example, Maitlis 1961 and Zfatman 1985, as well as the extensive bibliographies appended to these works.
  431.  
  432. Benayahu, Meir. Sefer Toldot ha-’Ari. Jerusalem: Machon Ben-Zvi, 1967.
  433.  
  434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435.  
  436. A critical publication of one of the most important corpuses of Jewish legends in the early modern period. The centrality of Safed as a cultural center of Jewish life around the year 1600 is well known (see the Oxford Bibliographies entry on “Safed”). This publication present the cycle of legends of the major saintly figure of that place—the ‘Ari, compares their variants, and locates them in the historical context of 16th-century Safed.
  437.  
  438. Find this resource:
  439.  
  440. Dan, Joseph. Ha-Sippur ha-Khasidi. Jerusalem: Keter, 1975.
  441.  
  442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443.  
  444. An early attempt to discuss the Hasidic narrative world, both as literary work and as part of the long chain of Jewish folktales. The book discusses the main narrative Hasidic books, and it also points to the importance for the history of Jewish storytelling of the flimsy and popular booklets of Hasidic stories, containing hundreds of tales, that almost disappeared from the eyes of bibliographers and scholars.
  445.  
  446. Find this resource:
  447.  
  448. Mark, Zvi. Kol Sippurey Rabbi Nachman of Braslav: Ha-Ma’asiot, ha-Sippurim ha-Sodi’im, ha-Chalomot ve-ha-Chezyonot. Jerusalm: Mosad Bialik, 2014.
  449.  
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451.  
  452. Contains all of Rabbi Nachman’s stories, his fairy tales, his secret tales, his dreams, and visions. This is one of the most important publications of Hasidic stories ever published. A critical edition of all the tales ever told by and around the figure of Rabbi Nachman of Braslav—one of the most interesting and enigmatic of Jewish storytellers ever.
  453.  
  454. Find this resource:
  455.  
  456. Nigal, Gedalyah. Ha-Sipporet ha-Khasidit: Toldote’iha ve-Nose’iha. Jerusalem: Marcus, 1981.
  457.  
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459.  
  460. An attempt to map the history and major themes of the rich and varied Hasidic storytelling. It outlines the main developments of Hasidic storytelling since publication in the early 19th century. The book also includes a valuable bibliography of the very rare Hasidic booklets of tales, of which only a few examples have survived.
  461.  
  462. Find this resource:
  463.  
  464. Wineman, Aryeh. Beyond Appearances: Stories from the Kabbalistic Ethical Writings. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1988.
  465.  
  466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467.  
  468. This work points to another important source of Jewish narratives: the rich mystical and moral writings of early modern times. The author peruses dozens of mystical and moral books of the early modern period, translates the tales into English, and analyzes them using literary and mystical-moral tools. This is an insightful and original work, which not only presents important narrative materials, but also adds insightful readings of these tales and visions.
  469.  
  470. Find this resource:
  471.  
  472. Yassif, Eli. ‘Agadt Tzfat: Khay’im u-Fantasia be-’Ire ha-Mekubalim. Haifa: Haifa University Press, 2011.
  473.  
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475.  
  476. This publication attempts to show the importance of storytelling in the rich cultural world of Safed. While almost all aspects of the culture of Safed has been studied, the legends, which actually appropriated a central place in Safed life of the 16th century, were almost neglected. The book claims that these legends did not only “reflect” life, but were a major factor in shaping them.
  477.  
  478. Find this resource:
  479.  
  480. Zfatman, Sara. Hasiporet be-Yiddish 1504–1814. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1985.
  481.  
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483.  
  484. Although defined as an annotated bibliography, this seminal work is much more than that. It offers full information on Yiddish storytelling in early modern times. It also provides detailed data about the texts, the cultural space they were created in, the early prints, and the main figures in the field. Of special importance is the detailed information about the most important collection of Jewish folktales during this period—the Mayseh Bukh.
  485.  
  486. Find this resource:
  487.  
  488. Modern World Storytelling
  489. The actual condition of the Jewish people in the modern period—minority communities scattered in the East and West, and speaking different vernaculars—required us to separate the great volume of publications on Jewish folktales of the modern period into different sections. The division was done in line with the conventional separation of communities according to their speaking languages and area of habitat: eastern Europe and the Yiddish language that dominated Jewish life of the time; Jewish communities in theMuslim, Arabic-speaking areas; the Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish communities, most of them living around the Mediterranean—as refugees after the great expulsion from Spain (1492); and the latest stage of Jewish storytelling—Hebrew oral storytelling in the modern State of Israel. We have to emphasize that not all the sub-vernaculars (Jewish Persian, Georgian Jewish dialects, Indian Jews, English-speaking folklore, and more) could be included here; however, some of them are included in the general surveys and bibliographies listed above. Almost all studies listed below make clear that there is no way to understand storytelling of any given Jewish community, without the tripartite elements of social-political status, traditional Jewish heritage, and culture/language influences.
  490.  
  491. Eastern Europe
  492. Eastern European Jews were, more than any other Jewish community known to us, interested in collecting, preserving, and studying their own folklore. It seems as if these communities felt beforehand that their folk cultural was going to disappear, together with the people practicing it. The pioneering project, opening the door for every future study, was the famous An-Ski ethnographical expedition in the beginning of the 20th century. The life and achievements of this amazing person, who took it upon himself to collect and preserve the folkloric treasures of eastern European communities in a time of impossible conditions, are described and assessed in Safran and Zipperstein 2006. The achievements of Jewish folklorists working before and even during the Second World War, mainly in Poland, are studied in detail in Gottesman 2003 and Bar-Itzhak 2010. The folklorists studied in these publications worked without institutions or funds, mainly as private scholars, librarians, or social activists. Due to their work, the folk culture of Jewish eastern Europe is known to us. Bar-Itzhak 2010 could be considered an example of these achievements, as could the author’s studies of the attitude of the Jewish folk to Poland as their homeland (Bar-Itzhak 2001). A different direction, though of much importance, was taken in the study of Jewish narratives during the Holocaust. Although almost every aspect of the Shoah was studied, the folklore of that time and place was almost untouchable due to its sensibility. The pioneering work Rosen 2004 attempts to change this attitude. By collecting life stories from Holocaust survivors in Israel and Hungary, and studying them with folkloristic tools (literary, contextual, psychological), Rosen suggested a new and different perspective on Holocaust memories. Bar-Itzhak 2009, a study on the narrative of a Jewish woman and a Nazi, adds another dimension to the study of Holocaust memories, and the building of myths around these memories.
  493.  
  494. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. Jewish Poland: Legends of Origin. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001.
  495.  
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  497.  
  498. This work studies the folk narratives of one of the most important Jewish communities of Eastern Europe—the Jews of Poland—and concentrates on one main theme: legends of origin. These legends were an outcome of the Jews being a minority group looking for legitimation and acceptance.
  499.  
  500. Find this resource:
  501.  
  502. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. “Women in the Holocaust: The Story of a Woman Who Killed a Nazi in a Concentration Camp: A Folkloristic Perspective.” Fabula 50 (2009): 67–77.
  503.  
  504. DOI: 10.1515/FABL.2009.006Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  505.  
  506. From various sources—oral and written—this study collects different versions of a tale about a Jewish woman and a Nazi officer. In addition to the amazing story itself, the importance of this study is both folkloristic and historical. It points to the close proximity of the study of folk narratives and oral history, as well as to the ideological and personal interests that shape a folk narrative.
  507.  
  508. Find this resource:
  509.  
  510. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. Pioneers of Jewish Ethnography and Folkloristics in Eastern Europe. Ljubljana: Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2010.
  511.  
  512. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  513.  
  514. An erudite and useful survey of the important folklorists acting in eastern Europe during the 20th century. Each chapter is dedicated to and discusses in-depth the contribution of these folklorists to our understanding of Jewish folklore: S. An-Sky, Y. L. Cahan, Alter Druyanow, Regina Lilienthal, Meir Balaban, and Itzik Manger are among the folklorists and social leaders discussed here.
  515.  
  516. Find this resource:
  517.  
  518. Gottesman, Itzik Nakhman. Defining the Yiddish Nation: The Jewish Folklorists of Poland. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003.
  519.  
  520. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  521.  
  522. The study of Jewish folklore in Poland since the beginning of Second World War. Their goal was to revive the language—Yiddish—and prove, through the study of what was generally considered “the culture of the people,” that it can serve as a vehicle for building the Jewish Nation in Poland. Their conviction was that the right way to do it was though recording, publishing, and studying the folk culture of the Jewish communities, and using it as a vehicle for renewal of Jewish life.
  523.  
  524. Find this resource:
  525.  
  526. Rosen, Ilana. Be Aushwitz Taka’anu be Shofar: Yotze’ey Carpato-russ Mesaprim al-ha-Sho’ah. Jerusalem: Yad va-Shem, 2004.
  527.  
  528. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  529.  
  530. The Carpatho-Russian Jews remember the Holocaust. This is a pioneering study of personal narratives of survivors, of their lives before and during the Second World War. It is one of the first works applying folkloristic methods to personal narratives of Holocaust survivors. This perspective locates their memories in local as well as universal context, and gives a fresh perspective on Jewish life during the Second World War.
  531.  
  532. Find this resource:
  533.  
  534. Safran, Gabriella, and Steven J. Zipperstein. The Worlds of S. An-sky: A Russian Jewish Intellectual at the Turn of the Century. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.
  535.  
  536. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  537.  
  538. On the face of it, this is an intellectual biography of one of the most influential social activists and folklorists at the turn of the 20th century. However, the book describes in detail the famous An-sky expedition to the “Pale of Settlement,” in which most valuable materials—including hundreds of folktales—survived the destruction of this ancient Jewish culture during the two world wars. The book also deals with the famous Jewish folktale that was transformed into a play by An-Sky himself: The Dibbuk.
  539.  
  540. Find this resource:
  541.  
  542. Judeo-Spanish Storytelling
  543. The expulsion of this old and culturally rich Jewish community from Spain and Portugal scattered its members into separate communities, which settled mainly around the Mediterranean, and which continued to preserve their Iberian heritage. The narrative world of this community included almost all known genres, as shown in Alexander-Frizer 2008. This work covers almost all genres and central tale types of Judeo-Spanish storytelling. To this work should be added the classification of Haboucha 1992, which categorizes the variety of tales into the system of the general Aarne-Thompson classification. The historical-cultural background and context of the community is described and studied in Ben-Ami 1982. Diaz-Mas 2009 points in a similar direction in its study of the folk narratives of this community, examined in the context of the social status of its narrators—in this case Jewish, middle-class women. The basic interest in Judeo-Spanish folklore and storytelling tradition started with the person who is considered “the father of Jewish folkloristics,” Max Grunwald (see Grunwald 1982). Grunwald studied both genres and specific tales, but he paid special attention to the Romancero genre—the most original creation of Judeo-Spanish culture. Refael 1992 is the most complete and up-to-date study of the Judeo-Spanish Romance, an important and fascinating communal genre.
  544.  
  545. Alexander-Frizer, Tamar. The Art is a Mirror: The Sephardic Folktale. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008.
  546.  
  547. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  548.  
  549. A comprehensive study of Judeo-Spanish storytelling. It describes its history and the main genres and themes. The book discusses in detail the historical sources of the Sephardic folktales, their ethnic identity, and their art of performance. It includes a large bibliography of texts, sources, and studies of the narrating art of these communities.
  550.  
  551. Find this resource:
  552.  
  553. Ben-Ami, Issachar, ed. The Sephardi and Oriental Jewish Heritage: Studies. 2 vols. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1982.
  554.  
  555. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  556.  
  557. A valuable collection of studies, by different authors, of the cultural heritage of the Sephardic communities, mainly during the Ottoman period around the Mediterranean. It includes studies that shed important light on the traditional culture of these Jewish communities, including their rituals, beliefs, and rich narrative world. This is a most representative collection of studies of the state or research in this field. In Hebrew and English.
  558.  
  559. Find this resource:
  560.  
  561. Diaz-Mas, Paloma. “Folk Literature among the Sephardic Bourgeois Women at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.” European Journal of Jewish Studies 3 (2009): 81–102.
  562.  
  563. DOI: 10.1163/102599909X12471170467367Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  564.  
  565. The central role of women in creating, transmitting, and performing folk narratives in middle-class Jewish societies, in the Balkan and beyond. The article presents a large variety of documents and studies of the role of women in the Judeo-Spanish communities and their rich world of folk narrative.
  566.  
  567. Find this resource:
  568.  
  569. Grunwald, Max. Sippurey-’Am, Romansot ve-Orkhot Khayim shel Yehudey Sefarad. Edited by Dov Noy. Folklore Research Center Studies 6. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1982.
  570.  
  571. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  572.  
  573. A collection of studies on Ladino (Spanish-Jewish) folklore and folk narrative, by Max Grunwald, whom Dov Noy called (in an article included in this volume) “The Founder of Jewish Folkloristics.” It includes studies of the basic genres of folk narratives of this old and culturally rich community of Spanish-speaking Jews.
  574.  
  575. Find this resource:
  576.  
  577. Haboucha, Reginetta. Types and Motifs of the Judeo-Spanish Folk-Tales. New York and London: Garland, 1992.
  578.  
  579. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  580.  
  581. A useful and representative classification of printed Judeo-Spanish folk narratives, including the poetical narratives—the Romancero. The classification is organized according to the two main classifications used in the study of folk literature: the Aarne-Thompson tale-type classification, and the Stith Thompson motif-Index.
  582.  
  583. Find this resource:
  584.  
  585. Refael, Shmuel. Ha-Abir veha-Ra’aya ha-Shvuya: Mekhkar ba-Romansa shel Dovrey ha-Ladino. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1992.
  586.  
  587. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  588.  
  589. This work (The Knight and the Captive Lady: A Study of the Judeo-Spanish [Ladino] Romance) deals with one of the most characteristic of the Judeo-Spanish communities creation: the Romancero. The history of the genre, its relationship to Spanish culture, and its Jewish themes and sources are studies in this book in detail.
  590.  
  591. Find this resource:
  592.  
  593. Arab-Speaking Jewish Communities
  594. The history of Jewish folktales in Arab-speaking communities is as old as Islam itself. Traces of Jewish folk-traditions could be found in large numbers in the Koran itself and in all post-Koranic literature. As an outcome of this long and intensive history, some materials and studies of Arabic-Jewish folktales are cited in other sections of this bibliography: Schwarzbaum 1968 and Schwarzbaum 1989, which deal mainly with medieval and early modern Jewish-Arabic and Arabic materials, are cited under Collections of Studies. The huge data preserved in the Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) Publications (1955–1981) have been partly published, including seminal publications that refer to narrative materials recorded from immigrants to the State of Israel since the 1950s, and that attest to their great importance for the history of Jewish folktales; these are described in Jason 1965 (cited under Bibliographies and Tale Type Indices), and translated and studied in Volume 3 of Ben-Amos 2006–2011 (cited under Anthologies). Among the Arab-speaking communities themselves, there is a great variety of themes, genres, and tale types. Avishur 1992 deals with the folktales of the Jews of Iraq—one of the oldest communities of the Arab-speaking world. The main sources of the tales published here are rich manuscript collections preserved by the community, in Arabic. It seems that the most studied folktales of any Jewish community are those about the Jews of Morocco and of Yemen. Issachar Ben-Ami, one of the most important researchers of folk traditions of the Jewish-Moroccan community, studied the variety of narrative genres performed by the community’s storytellers (see Ben-Ami 1975). However, his monumental contribution is his work on the most widespread ritual and narrative genre of this community: the legends of saints (see Ben-Ami 1984). Another intensive community studied is that of the Yemenite Jews. Noy 1963 is a concentrated study on the art of one outstanding Yemenite storyteller, who, due to his profession, wandered all over Yemen and its Jewish communities, and recorded in his memory many of their narrative traditions. Noy 1981 is also a pioneering study, one that attempts to look at the conflict of majority-minority population in Yemen not only through religion or society, but also by how was it reflected through its folk mentality. Bar-Itzhak 1993 (cited under Folk Narratives in the State of Israel) is an attempt to look at the transformation of Yemenite storytelling after their immigration to Israel. Sabar 1976 and Salamon 1999 point to an important factor for the study of the “Oriental” Jewish communities: the Kurdish Jews, speaking the long-forgotten Neo-Aramaic dialect, and the immigrant Jews from Africa/Ethiopia, who represent the most recent contribution to the study of Jewish storytelling.
  595.  
  596. Avishur, Itzhak. Ha-Sippur ha-’Amami shel Yehudei ‘Iraq. 2 vols. Haifa: University of Haifa, 1992.
  597.  
  598. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  599.  
  600. A representative collection of folktales from the folk traditions of Iraqi Jews, selected and translated from Arabic. The introductions, comparative notes to each tale, and the useful bibliography expose important texts for understanding the character and function of Jewish storytelling for the life and culture of the Jews of Iraq.
  601.  
  602. Find this resource:
  603.  
  604. Ben-Ami, Issachar. Ha’aratzat ha-Kdoshim Bekerev Yehudey Marocco. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1984.
  605.  
  606. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  607.  
  608. A most important factor in Jewish-Moroccan life and folk beliefs is the veneration of saints. The core of this important work is a list of 615 Jewish-Moroccan saints, their rituals, location of tombs, and especially narratives of their miracles. Most of these first-rate texts were recorded from oral traditions told to the author by the community’s narrators living in Israel.
  609.  
  610. Find this resource:
  611.  
  612. Ben-Ami, Issachar. Yahadut Marocco: Prakim be-Kheker Tarbutam. Jerusalem: Reuven Mass Publishing, 1975.
  613.  
  614. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  615.  
  616. A collection of studies by one of the central folklorists of Moroccan Jewry. It includes studies, in Hebrew and French, on various aspects of Jewish Moroccan folklore: rituals, folk beliefs, folk songs, and mainly narrative traditions as legends, humor, and proverbs.
  617.  
  618. Find this resource:
  619.  
  620. Noy, Dov. Jefet Schwili erzählt. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1963.
  621.  
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  623.  
  624. Explores the art of a prominent Yemenite-Israeli storyteller. His tales are recorded and translated into German, and their origins in Jewish and Arabic culture are intensively studied. This book can be considered as an introduction to Yemenite folk literature and the context of beliefs and rituals in which it was created. It is also an exemplary study of the narrative language of a single storyteller and his conceptual world.
  625.  
  626. Find this resource:
  627.  
  628. Noy, Dov. “Ha-’Imut ha-Mishpakhti be-Ma’asiot ‘Am shel ‘Edot Yisrael: Mekhkar Typology-Structurally.” Folklore Research Center Studies 1 (1970): 201–221.
  629.  
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  631.  
  632. Based on a sample of seventy-one oral narratives from the Jewish Tunisian community, the author studies one of the most sensitive and hidden themes of any culture: family confrontations. The tales reveal, according to this study, various types of family conflicts, which shed much light on this community’s family structure and mentality.
  633.  
  634. Find this resource:
  635.  
  636. Noy, Dov. “Bein Yisrael le-’Amim be-’Agadot ‘Am shel Yehudey Teiman.” In Mekhkerey ‘Edot u-Geniza. Edited by Shlomo Morag and Issachar Ben-Ami, 229–295. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1981.
  637.  
  638. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  639.  
  640. Using the rich data of folktales collected from oral storytelling preserved in the Israel Folktale Archives (IFA), the author studies the relationships between Jews and Muslims in Jewish Yemenite folktales. The importance of this study is that it reveals the attitude of larger layers of Jewish Yemenite society, and not only of religious or social leaders, to their status as a minority group in a Muslim country.
  641.  
  642. Find this resource:
  643.  
  644. Sabar, Yona. “Lel Huza: Story and History in a Cycle of Lamentations for the Ninth of Ab in the Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan.” Journal of Semitic Studies 21 (1976): 138–162.
  645.  
  646. DOI: 10.1093/jss/XXI.1-2.138Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  647.  
  648. Although living in a Muslim country, the Jews of Kurdistan kept the ancient Jewish Aramaic language in its modern, adapted form. This interesting cycle of lamentations for the ritual mourning for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was performed every year as part of the local ritual of the community.
  649.  
  650. Find this resource:
  651.  
  652. Salamon, Hagar. The Hyena People: Ethiopian Jews in Christian Ethiopia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
  653.  
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  655.  
  656. Although the Ethiopian Jews, who immigrated to Israel during the last decades of the 20th century, are not an Arab-speaking community, their culture belongs to their African heritage. This study explores the rituals and beliefs of this outstanding minority group, both in Africa and in Israel, and attempts to understand the depth of their lives and mentality.
  657.  
  658. Find this resource:
  659.  
  660. Folk Narratives in the State of Israel
  661. Since the great immigration waves after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, its space became a great laboratory for the variety, transformation, and creation of folktales. As the newly established state attracted Jewish communities from a large variety of cultures—Muslim countries, eastern Europe, and the West—the narrative traditions brought by these immigrants were mixed and adapted, and became an essential part of Its identity. Another central component of this new, Israeli folk culture was the native, Palestinian culture, which was part of that outstanding mixture of narrative cultures. These general observations are dealt with in Yassif 2002, on the background of the social and cultural reality of Israel. Shenhar 1982 deals with these issues from an all-Israeli perspective, and Bar-Itzhak 1993 focuses on the narrative traditions of one community acting in this context. This seminal characteristic of Israeli folktales—the “tradition and change”—is presented in full in Bar-Itzhak and Pintel-Ginsberg 2008, an impressive anthology of texts and studies. Shenhar 1987 is one of the first attempts to deal not only with the traditional narratives brought by the Jewish communities from exile, but with the original narratives created and told in Israel itself since its establishment. The essays and studies in Hasan-Rokem and Yassif 1990 and Hasan-Rokem 1998, deal with the folkloristic research conducted before and after 1948. Both works prove how these studies were influenced by Zionist ideology and the need to build a “new/old” nation. Many of these ideologies and national goals influenced the Israeli academy and culture at large.
  662.  
  663. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. “Realiya ‘Isara’elit ba-Sippur ha-Masorti shel Yehudey Teiman.” Teima 3 (1993): 130–143.
  664.  
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  666.  
  667. The question of the changes folktales underwent in the process of the immigration of their storytellers from culture to culture is discussed here, both on the theoretical level and in practice. The changes these tales underwent in the process of immigration were mainly in the area of everyday life and modern, westernized culture.
  668.  
  669. Find this resource:
  670.  
  671. Bar-Itzhak, Haya, and Idit Pintel-Ginsberg, eds. Kokho shel Sippur: Sefer ha-Yovel le-’Asaiy. Haifa: Israel Folktale Archive, 2008.
  672.  
  673. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  674.  
  675. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the most important institution of Jewish folktales—the Israel Folktale Archive (IFA)—Haifa University published this impressive volume of a selection of tales archived in the IFA. However, it is much more than an anthology: each tale is followed by a detailed study by different scholars, and each study suggests a different approach to the interpretation of Israeli oral folktales. This volume should be considered as a most valuable and representative contribution to Israel folk culture.
  676.  
  677. Find this resource:
  678.  
  679. Hasan-Rokem, Galit. “The Birth of Scholarship out of the Spirit of Oral Tradition: Folk Narrative Publications and National Identity in Modern Israel.” Fabula 39 (1998): 277–290.
  680.  
  681. DOI: 10.1515/fabl.1998.39.3-4.277Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  682.  
  683. The foundation of the Israel Folktale Archive and its founder Dov Noy are in the core discussion of this publication. The ideological basis of its foundation, the personal background of the founder, and the historical context in which he acted all point, according to this work, at the concept of “invented tradition” in the service of search for a national identity.
  684.  
  685. Find this resource:
  686.  
  687. Hasan-Rokem, Galit, and Eli Yassif. “Jewish Folkloristics in Israel: Directions and Goals.” In Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Vol. D2, 36–62. Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1990.
  688.  
  689. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  690.  
  691. A survey of the development of folklore studies in Israel from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The study deals with the major acting figures, the establishment of the folklore institutions, the foundation of the research journals and their main publications, and of the penetration of this discipline into the universities and Israeli academy.
  692.  
  693. Find this resource:
  694.  
  695. Shenhar, Aliza. Ha-Sippur ha-’Amami shel ‘Adot Yisra’el. Tel-Aviv: Cherikover, 1982.
  696.  
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  698.  
  699. Dedicated to an overview of the last stage history of Jewish folktales: folk narrative of the Jewish communities that have emigrated to the State of Israel since its foundation in 1948. The book presents a series of studies of general perspectives, as well as monographs of specific tales, and relates these folktales to their sources in earlier Jewish traditions.
  700.  
  701. Find this resource:
  702.  
  703. Shenhar, Aliza. Jewish and Israeli Folklore. New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, 1987.
  704.  
  705. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  706.  
  707. A collection of studies on narrative themes, with a focus on the transformation of Jewish folktales into Israeli cultural narratives. The studies include a discussion of the important process of “Judaization” of universal folktales, as well as a study of Israeli folk narratives under conditions of stress.
  708.  
  709. Find this resource:
  710.  
  711. Yassif, Eli. “The ‘Other’ Israel: Folk Cultures in the Modern State of Israel.” In Cultures of the Jews: A New History. Edited by David Biale, 1063–1098. New York: Schocken, 2002.
  712.  
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  714.  
  715. An attempt to look at Israeli culture through the folk traditions brought to it by the variety of emigrant communities, and developed in it since the first settlements in Palestine in the late 19th century. The survey is based on a variety of oral and written texts, including memories and novels. It tries to reveal a deeper strata of Hebrew-Israeli culture, through understanding its folk culture.
  716.  
  717. Find this resource:
  718.  
  719. Genres and Themes
  720. The theory of genres was, since the beginning of the study of folktales, a central component of its classification and understanding. Even the seminal Aarne-Thompson (AT) classification—which is the basic tool for the classification of folktales—is ostensibly generic. The generic classification to modes of narration is never only “technical naming,” since it has direct implications on the tale’s meaning and social function. In addition to the narrative genres dealt with below, there are, in folk literature, other, nonnarrative genres such as proverbs, riddles, and folk songs (lullabies, folk rhymes, etc.). Each one of these can appear as an independent unit, but in most cases each is embedded in the larger narrative genres. The Brothers Grimm, already in the beginning of the 19th century, built the foundation for the generic classification by differentiating between the legend and the märchen (the fairy tale). Since then, hundreds of generic classifications have followed, but this basic differentiation of the “realistic” and “fantastic” narratives is still in effect. The two first genres listed below, Myth and Legend, refer, although vaguely, to history and reality: so is the Masada historical event, or lives of the saints, followed by their veneration. On the other side of the generic classification are the Fairy Tale and Animal Tales and Fables. Both avoid, almost completely, any reference to a known reality, and they take place in an undefined place and time. The outcome of these differences is that while myth and legend are defined as “belief narratives,” they are created and accepted by larger parts of society as “true.” This is the opposite of the fairy tale and animal tales, genres that do not claim credibility, and whose meaning and importance are in a different area. The following listing deals only with studies of Jewish folktales, not with the theory of genres in folklore, on which a large and extensive literature has been published. The generic classification of Jewish folktales is not different from that in the general theory, neither in literary structure, nor in its meaning and message. Variations of the same tale type in Jewish and general folklore are widespread, and variations apply to the same rules as in any other folk culture. Most of the scholarly studies listed below work from this hypothesis, and compare the Jewish versions of a given tale to its variants in general folklore. The best and most insightful studies are those that do not stop there, but also ask why were these changes done, and what can be learned from them about the culture and mentality of the narrators and society that narrated them.
  721.  
  722. Myth
  723. The struggle of Jewish culture with myth is as old as the Hebrew Bible itself. The earlier concepts of myth as stories about the world of the gods, and their relationship to nature and to human beings, put hard challenges in front of the theological concepts of Judaism. See the full discussion in Fishbane 2003. These definitions were not the first concern of myth as folk narrative, which is the main concern here. The different variations of the myth as a literary form, its themes and historical overview, are described in Schwartz 2004. Two collections of studies on the general manifestations of myth in Jewish history and culture are listed below: Idel and Gruenwald 2004 focuses on the historical sequence of Jewish myths, from the Hebrew Bible to the present. It focuses mainly on the mystical and magical elements of the texts and rituals the authors define as “myth.” The essays included in Abramson 2000 deal mainly with myths of modern Jewish history: immigration and the new world, the Holocaust, and the foundation of the State of Israel. Zerubavel 1994 and Ben-Yehuda 1995 deal with this last stage, in much detail and insight. These works demonstrate the vitality of mythical narratives in the modern world. The volume also deals with how historical events such as the destruction of Masada in the first century CE and the battle of Tel Hai in the beginning of the 20th century, as well as other historical events, can be transformed into modern myths, with all their implications for life in modern Israel.
  724.  
  725. Abramson, Glenda, ed. Modern Jewish Mythologies. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 2000.
  726.  
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  728.  
  729. A collection of essays dealing with the various manifestations of and perspectives on myth in modern Jewish culture. The essays range from historical events such as the Holocaust and the 1948 battle in Latrun on the outskirts of Jerusalem, to the myth of and about Israeli cinema. Every essay included in this volume is founded on some kind of narrative, which its author defines as “myth.”
  730.  
  731. Find this resource:
  732.  
  733. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman. The Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.
  734.  
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  736.  
  737. One of the central modern Israeli myths. This ancient event—the destruction of the fortress on the Dead Sea shores and the suicide of its inhabitants in the year 73 CE—became an important element in in Zionist mentality and Israeli education. The book discusses the great gap between the historical event and the way it is told in Israel today. The study indicates how a myth, using collective memory, becomes a political and ideological tool.
  738.  
  739. Find this resource:
  740.  
  741. Fishbane, Michael. Biblical Myth and Rabbinic Mythmaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  742.  
  743. DOI: 10.1093/0198267339.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  744.  
  745. A comprehensive and insightful study of mythical elements in the Hebrew Bible, and their manifestations in Talmudic and midrashic literature. It discusses the mythical phenomenon from the language level, as well as its literary form and theological-hermeneutical implications. The limits of discussion are extended to the Middle Ages as well, especially the myth in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalistic visions.
  746.  
  747. Find this resource:
  748.  
  749. Idel, Moshe, and Ithamar Gruenwald, eds. Ha-Mitos ba-Yahadut: Historia, Hagut, Sifrut. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2004.
  750.  
  751. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  752.  
  753. A collection of various essays dealing with historical developments of Jewish myths, from their earliest appearances in the Hebrew Bible to their later stages in modern Jewish culture. The emphasis of this collection is on the magical and mystical aspects of myth.
  754.  
  755. Find this resource:
  756.  
  757. Schwartz, Howard. Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  758.  
  759. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  760.  
  761. A large collection of popular character, of mythical tales and traces of myths, recorded in Jewish literature from the Bible to Hasidic storytelling. The texts are arranged, uncommonly but effectively, not in a historical sequence, but according to major themes and motifs.
  762.  
  763. Find this resource:
  764.  
  765. Zerubavel, Yael. Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
  766.  
  767. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  768.  
  769. Addresses the impact of collective memory on the mentality and identity of Israeli culture. The book deals with three main myths that shaped Israeli identity: the fall of Masada, the Bar-Kokhba revolt, and the battle of Tel Hai. According to this study, these ancient and modern Jewish myths stand in the shadow of one all-encompassing myth—the Holocaust.
  770.  
  771. Find this resource:
  772.  
  773. The Legend
  774. The legend (legenda, ‘agada, sage) is the most “historical” of all folk-narrative genres. The meaning of historicity corresponds mainly with the collective memory of a given community, and the shaping of its past in order to define its social identity. The “factuality” of the legend in historiography is much debated by both historians and folklorists. The studies presented below use folkloristic methods for dealing with legends. While confronting historical “facts,” these studies attempt to look at the place of social and collective memory for the narrating community. The study of legends could be extended to other chapters in the present bibliography, including Ben-Ami 1984 (cited under Arab-Speaking Jewish Communities) studies hundreds of Moroccan legends of the saints, or Yassif 1999 (cited under General Overviews), which describes the development of this genre in the different periods of Jewish history—from the Hebrew Bible to present-day Israel. Legends of the saints are still the most popular subgenre of the legend. Alexander 1994 studies a central legend, on basis of the life and culture of one Jerusalemite community: the Judeo-Spanish. Noy 1967 also focuses on one figure, in this case a Jewish Yemenite saint. In the course of this study, the author presents a large overview of all legends told about this saint in the Jewish Yemenite community, and also suggests a theoretical structure of the “legendary biography” of all Jewish saints. Bar-Itzhak 1990 and Bar-Itzhak 1994 are seminal contributions to the theory of veneration of the saint’s narratives. These studies focus on characterization of the acting figure in the legends—the saint—and on the literary construction of the legends as means of communication. Shenhar and Katriel 1992 and Shenhar 1991 deal with two typical “Israeli” legends: the building of the new kibbutzim in the pre-state era, and the disappearance of an IDF submarine on its way home. Both studies are aware, as mentioned above, that these legendary traditions refer to real, historical events, and the fact they became a widespread narrative tradition attests to their importance and function in real life and mentality of Israeli society.
  775.  
  776. Alexander, Tamar. “ha-’Agada ha-Sfaradit-Yehudit ‘al Rabeinu Kalonimos bi-Yerushalayim.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish folklore 5–6 (1994): 85–122.
  777.  
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  779.  
  780. The account of the burial of the mysterious figure of Rabbi Kalonimos was a central narrative of the Judeo-Spanish community in Jerusalem. By analyzing the many versions of this legend in written and oral sources, and its historical and social contexts, this systematic study demonstrates the importance of the legend for the self-identity of this community, and for shaping its essential rituals.
  781.  
  782. Find this resource:
  783.  
  784. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. “Modes of Characterization in Religious Narrative: Jewish Folk Legends about Miracle Worker Rabbis.” Journal of Folklore Research 27 (1990): 205–230.
  785.  
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  787.  
  788. Legends of the saints are among the most popular folk narrative in Jewish folklore of early modern and modern times. These legends, created and circulated among both eastern European Jewish communities (mainly in Hasidic circles), and among Arab-speaking communities, locate in their center the figure of the saint. This study explores the means of characterization of these figures, and their function for Jewish culture at large.
  789.  
  790. Find this resource:
  791.  
  792. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. “Narration and the Components of Communication in the Jewish Folk Legend.” Fabula 35 (1994): 261–281.
  793.  
  794. DOI: 10.1515/fabl.1994.35.3-4.261Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  795.  
  796. The legends of the saints were, always, not only stories about the lives and deeds of the saints, but also a mode of expression, of delivering ideological and political messages. This article studies the Jewish legends of the saints in the early modern and modern periods as a means of communication, and also looks at their relationship to Jewish life and ideology during these periods.
  797.  
  798. Find this resource:
  799.  
  800. Noy, Dov. “R. Shalem Shabazi be ‘Agadat ha-’Am shel Yehudey Teiman.” In Bo’i Teiman. Edited by Yehuda Ratzahbi, 106–133. Tel-Aviv: Afikim, 1967.
  801.  
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  803.  
  804. Shalem Shabazi was a leading religious figure of the Jewish community in Yemen. The sacred legends told about him were created mainly in Yemen, but all of them were told and recorded in Israel by members of the community. This seminal work suggests the basic structure of the sacred biography of a Jewish saint, built around the figure of Shabazi. At the same time, it points to the implications the Shabazi legend has for the construction of a special Jewish model.
  805.  
  806. Find this resource:
  807.  
  808. Shenhar, Aliza. “The Disappearance of the Submarine Dakar: Folklore, Community and Stress.” Fabula 32 (1991): 204–215.
  809.  
  810. DOI: 10.1515/fabl.1991.32.1-2-3.204Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  811.  
  812. The tragic event—the disappearance of the submarine Dakar, which left the docks in southern England on its way to the Haifa port, was a traumatic event for the Israeli public. However, this event, in addition to the panic it raised, also created a full body of rumors, beliefs, rituals, and narratives. These authentic folkloric materials are of firsthand importance for understanding the creation and dissemination of legends, and their place in mass communication and mass psychology.
  813.  
  814. Find this resource:
  815.  
  816. Shenhar, Aliza, and Tamar Katriel. “I Was There: ‘Tower and Stockade’ Personal Experience Stories.” Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review 14 (1992): 32–43.
  817.  
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  819.  
  820. The history of the settlement movement during the British Mandate of Palestine is complicated and glorious at the same time. However, the collective memory of these tales of pioneering and courage survived many years in the oral traditions of Israeli society, and had much impact on its identity. These narratives, which are told in the form of “personal memories,” are dealt with as legends, which are studied, in this work, with the tools and definitions of the legend genre.
  821.  
  822. Find this resource:
  823.  
  824. The Fairy Tale
  825. This genre is one of the most studied among all folktale genres. The fantastic reality narrated in these tales, the exposure of cruel and subversive emotions and deeds, and their hidden agenda, have attracted the interest of most scholars of folk narratives. All the studies listed below acknowledge and use the theoretical achievements of these studies, but focus on the Jewish variants and their meaning for Jewish society. Although fairy tale components existed already in the Bible and medieval Jewish literature, only in modern time did this genre gain most of its popularity (as was the case in European culture as well). Jason 1962 was among the first to emphasize the centrality of this genre among the Yemenite Jews. However, this was only a preliminary survey; it encouraged other scholars to study this popular genre, mainly among the North-African Jewish communities. Newman-Shelly 1990 and Bar-Itzhak 1991–1992 are typical studies of the most popular fairy tales—Cinderella and Snow White—which have prominent versions among Tunisian and Moroccan Jews. These studies explore the special form and language of the Jewish variants, as well as their new meaning in the immigrant society in Israel. Outstanding among these studies is Ben-Cnaan and Raufman 2009, which focuses on a community not studied enough—the very Orthodox circles in Israel. The study points at a new media of folklore material, the Internet. It reveals the exposure of the most fundamentalist circles to world folklore, and points at changes they do to it so they can fulfil their ideological goals. Hasan-Rokem and Bilu 1989 is an unusual study, for two main reasons: it combines research methods from a variety of disciplines (psychological, anthropological, literary, folkloristic), and it refers to an unusual type of the fairytale genre: the life history of a woman, who constructs her personal narrative and identity in the form of a famous fairy tale, that of Cinderella. This study has important implications for our understanding of North-African Jewish culture, as well as for the theory of the genesis and meaning of the fairy tale genre in general.
  826.  
  827. Bar-Itzhak, Haya. “Smeda-Rmeda ha-Horeset Mazalah Bemo Yadeiha.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 13–14 (1991–1992): 323–348.
  828.  
  829. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  830.  
  831. An exemplary study of the Cinderella fairy tale in its Moroccan version. The article presents a long and stimulating version, told by a female storyteller in the city of Beit She’an. The changes this fairy tale underwent, compared to its international versions; the Jewish Moroccan context of which it is a part; and the tale’s adaptation to modern Israeli culture are discussed in detail and depth.
  832.  
  833. Find this resource:
  834.  
  835. Ben-Cnaan, Rachel, and Ravit Raufman. “Kipa ‘Aduma—ha Girsah ha-Kharedit.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 26 (2009): 135–158.
  836.  
  837. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  838.  
  839. Examines the “Red Riding Hood” fairy tale in its Jewish Orthodox variants. The tale appeared on websites of very religious circles in Israel, and was adopted to their language, world of beliefs, and theology. The analysis of this version reveals the ideological-educational role this tale is supposed to bring to this closed community, as well as the subversive messages it hides in its depth.
  840.  
  841. Find this resource:
  842.  
  843. Hasan-Rokem, Galit, and Yoram Bilu. “Cinderella and the Saint: The Life History of a Jewish Moroccan Folk-Healer in Israel.” Psychoanalytical Study of Society 15 (1989): 227–260.
  844.  
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  846.  
  847. The life story of a Moroccan healer, actually a kind of a saint, is studied in this insightful work from both anthropological-psychological and folkloristic points of view. Her life story as a folktale parallels with classical fairy tale structure, and the folkloric motifs embedded in her narrative are studied from a folkloristic perspective. This combination proves to be very useful and efficient in the study of the fairy tale genre in particular.
  848.  
  849. Find this resource:
  850.  
  851. Jason, Heda. “Ha-Ma’asiya etzel Yehudey Teiman.” In Har’el: In Memory of Rabbi Rephael Alsheich. Edited by Yehuda Rtzabi, 187–194. Tel-Aviv, 1962.
  852.  
  853. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  854.  
  855. Discusses the fairy tale among the Yemenite Jews. This is a folkloristic and statistical survey of the fairy tales collected from Yemenite storytellers during the first five years of the Israel Folktale Archives. According to this survey, the genre is popular among the storytellers of this community. At the time, the tales continued to be told in Arabic, and did not yet reflect their experiences in their new homeland.
  856.  
  857. Find this resource:
  858.  
  859. Newman-Shelly, Esther. “Zin el-Gamra: Shilgiya’h Zfon-Afrika’it.” Jerusalem Studies in Jewish Folklore 11–12 (1990): 76–101.
  860.  
  861. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  862.  
  863. Examines “Snow White” in its North African versions. The author discusses the importance of the genre of fairy tales among North African women, and presents variants of this tale collected from oral traditions in Israel. The core of this study is the question of assimilation of fairy tales into new realities and mentalities, how they were changed by them, and what is reflected in those changes.
  864.  
  865. Find this resource:
  866.  
  867. Animal Tales and Fables
  868. Fables and animal tales are one of the oldest genres of folk narrative. They appear already in ancient Near Eastern sources—Babylonian and Egyptian—and in the Hebrew Bible they have important literary and conceptual functions (for a discussion and bibliography, see Yassif 1999, pp. 23–27, cited under General Overviews). The fable, in its various forms, was used extensively by rabbinic authorities in Talmudic and midrashic literature, as a means of rhetoric, education, and interpretation. Thoma and Ernst 1986–2000 is a formidable collection of these fables and parables, scattered all over the huge works of rabbinic literature. The insightful Stern 1991 concentrates on the parables used only in one midrash, but it goes far beyond it. This work demonstrates, by looking deeply into the context in which the parables appear in the midrash, that they are a central tool for understanding the midrashic world and meaning. Fables and parables continued to be an important part of later Jewish storytelling. At the height of the Middle Ages, a learned French Jewish poet and man of letters—Rabbi Berechia ha-Nakdan—published one of the largest and most interesting collection of fables, the Mishlei Shu’alim (Fox Fables). The great importance and originality of Mishlei Shu’alim is its combination of Jewish old traditions and European contemporary culture. Schwarzbaum 1979 is a monumental comparative study that not only explores the huge base of sources Berechia used, but also locates his fables in the rich context of European culture of the time. Another learned Rabbi—Jacob Kranz, the Maggid (preacher) of Dubnow—followed in the footsteps of this historical sequence. One of his most cherished preaching tools was his use of parables—and that was also one of the secrets of his success. Heinemann 1967 collects the many parables from his long and moralistic public sermons, translates them into English, and introduces him both as a personality and a storyteller. An unexpected finding in this field is that the ancient and seemingly long-lost genre of animal tales is still popular and continues to be told orally and written down. The collection of animal tales published in Noy 1976 brought into light and annotated dozens of such tales, recorded from oral traditions in Israel and archived in the IFA. The texts are followed by a series of essays on the genre and its history in Jewish folklore and literature.
  869.  
  870. Heinemann, Benno. The Maggid of Dubnow and his Parables. New York: P. Feldheim, 1967.
  871.  
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  873.  
  874. Rabbi Jacob Kranz (b. 1740–d. 1804), the Maggid (preacher, teacher), used, extensively, parables in his sermons. His sermons and teachings gained much popularity among central European Jewish communities in early modern times. His use of parables and fables is one of the few recent proofs for the vitality of the genre, not only as a historical, literary artifact, but also as an effective tool for communication and preaching.
  875.  
  876. Find this resource:
  877.  
  878. Noy, Dov. Sippurey Ba’aley Hayim be-Edot Yisrael. Haifa: Israel Folktale Archive, 1976.
  879.  
  880. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  881.  
  882. A publication of animal tales recorded from oral storytelling of a variety of the Jewish communities, and preserved in the IFA. The animal tales are presented here in their original Hebrew, and followed by useful comparative notes, referring to their sources, variants, and previous studies. The important introduction and notes are a valuable contribution to the study of animal tales in general.
  883.  
  884. Find this resource:
  885.  
  886. Schwarzbaum, Haim. The Mishle Shu’alim (Fox Fables) of Rabbi Berechiah ha-Nakdan: A Study in Comparative Folklore and Fable Lore. Kiron, Israea: Institute for Jewish and Arab Folklore Research, 1979.
  887.  
  888. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  889.  
  890. The greatest Jewish fabulist in the Middle Ages was the 13th-century French poet and scholar Rabbi Berechia ha-Nakdan (the Bible proofreader). His book Fox Fables is one of the most important collections of fables in medieval Europe. The present study was undertaken with an impressive goal: to study each one of the 119 fables included in the book. It studies the sources of these fables in early Jewish literature and in the rich European fable literature (in almost every language it was published), and looks at the changes Rabbi Berechia made to the original stories. The studies of the individual fables open with a series of comprehensive introductions about the history of fables in world and Jewish culture, and about Berechia’s life and times.
  891.  
  892. Find this resource:
  893.  
  894. Stern, David. Parables in Midrash: Narrative Exegesis in Rabbinic Literature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991.
  895.  
  896. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  897.  
  898. An insightful study of parables in rabbinic literature. It focuses on the parable genre: a short, example-like narrative that serves to illustrate the meaning of a legal (halakhic) discussion or a homily. However, this in-depth study of the parables in the midrash on Lamentations demonstrates that the parable is much more than what was attributed to it earlier.
  899.  
  900. Find this resource:
  901.  
  902. Thoma, Clemens, and Hanspeter Ernst. Die Gleichnisse der Rabbinen. Bern: Peter Lang, 1986–2000.
  903.  
  904. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  905.  
  906. A comprehensive collection of the fables and parables in Talmudic and midrashic literature. It collects the hundreds of fables in their original Hebrew or Aramaic, translates them into German, and includes introductions and comparative notes for each fable. This work provides essential data for any future study of the extensive body of fables in rabbinic literature.
  907.  
  908. Find this resource:
  909.  
  910. Jokes and Humoristic Narratives
  911. This section deals only with the narrative branch of Jewish humor. Humor can appear in a wide variety of forms: drawings, slurs, gestures, satire, cinema, and more, as described in Ziv 1986. However, it is mostly identified with jokes and anecdotes—the narrative branch of humor. The hypothesis that Jewish humor, as an outcome of special conditions of life and the history of the Jewish people, is outstanding and different from that of any other culture was accepted not only by the general public, but also by scholars. This claim is debated and refuted in Ben-Amos 1973, which assesses the previous claims to singularity, and reveals, through specific examples, the universal character of Jewish humor. The most important presentation of Jewish jokes and anecdotes, Druyanow 1922, attests, it seems, both to the singularity claim and to its refutation. The Druyanow collection deals only with Jewish humor of eastern Europe. The popularity of this anthology, both among scholars and the general public, created a false impression that Jewish humor is mainly eastern European. However, Alexander-Frizer 1991 (cited under the Middle Ages; see pp. 354–387), deals extensively with Judeo-Spanish, and non-Ashkenazi, Jewish humor, and points to its richness and variety. Alexander-Frizer exposes the rich humoristic traditions about Jokha—the Eastern version of Hershele, and the popular tales about Makeida—the Jewish, Eastern variant of the eastern European city of Chelm. Another location of Jewish humor is that of central and eastern Europe. Oring 1984 makes a bold attempt to look at Jewish humor of that cultural region in the early 20th century, through the eyes of the person who more than anyone else contributed to the study of humor in the modern world—Sigmund Freud. The last stages of Jewish humor are those created and performed in Israel and in the Jewish communities of the United States. Oring 1981 deals with a specific Israeli-Palestinian humoristic genre—the chizbat (a local form of the tall-tale genre). It started in the pre-state period in circles of the groups of young fighters, and became, according to this important work, an element of Israeli identity. Alan Dundes, one of the greatest and most influential folklorists of the 20th century, was an avid Freudian and a great believer in the centrality of humor in any given culture. His study of the “JAP” (Jewish American Princess) cycle of jokes is an exemplary work, which exposes, through humor, some of the most hidden and sensitive elements of Jewish American identity.
  912.  
  913. Ben-Amos, Dan. “The ‘Myth’ of Jewish Humor.” Western Folklore 32 (1973): 112–131.
  914.  
  915. DOI: 10.2307/1498323Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  916.  
  917. The question of the definition of Jewish humor, as well as its specific characterization, is opened and debated in the essay. Ben-Amos presents the main definitions of the genre, and the claim that Jewish humor is different and more rooted in Jewish culture than the humor of other nations. Using convincing examples, he concludes that these notions are nothing more than a “myth.”
  918.  
  919. Find this resource:
  920.  
  921. Druyanow, Alter. Sefer ha-Bdikha veha-Khidud. 3 vols. Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1922.
  922.  
  923. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  924.  
  925. This work (The Book of Jokes and Anecdotes) is the most important representation of eastern European Jewish humor. The core of this publication is a collection of hundreds of jokes and anecdotes, collected from written sources and oral storytellers, organized according to themes, professions, personalities, life cycle, holy days, and more.
  926.  
  927. Find this resource:
  928.  
  929. Dundes, Alan. “The J.A.P and the J.A.M. in American Jokelore.” Journal of American Folklore 98 (1985): 456–475.
  930.  
  931. DOI: 10.2307/540367Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  932.  
  933. A Freudian study of the cycles of Jewish American jokes about the Jewish American Princess and the Jewish American Mother. Throughout these cycles of jokes, one of the greatest folklorists of the 20th century exposes the deepest and most sensitive layers of Jewish American identity.
  934.  
  935. Find this resource:
  936.  
  937. Oring, Elliott. Israeli Humor: The Content and Structure of the Chizbat of the Palmah. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981.
  938.  
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  940.  
  941. A pioneering study of one of the most characteristic pre-state Israeli folklore: the Chizbat of the Palmah. This is a local/native variation of the international tall-tale genre, which was told among the fighting groups of young people, established in order to guard the Jewish settlements in Palestine at that time. This important work studies the historical and social context of these humoristic narratives, their special form and language.
  942.  
  943. Find this resource:
  944.  
  945. Oring, Elliott. The Jokes of Sigmund Freud: A Study in Humor and Jewish Identity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.
  946.  
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  948.  
  949. Embedded in the huge body of works of Sigmund Freud, but, of course, mainly in his Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten (1905), are dozens of jokes—most of them about Jews. The present study collects and presents the Jewish jokes Freud used in his works, and examines them in terms of their Jewish background.
  950.  
  951. Find this resource:
  952.  
  953. Ziv, Avner, ed. Humor Yehudi. Tel-Aviv: Papirus, 1986.
  954.  
  955. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  956.  
  957. A collection of articles dealing with larger aspects of Jewish humor. It includes essays on humor in literary works, and on satirical elements in Israeli theater and film, but mainly on folk jokes: sexual, confrontation jokes of Jews and Gentiles, anti-Semitic jokes, the great comedians in Jewish American culture, and more.
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