Jewish Folklore & Folktales (women, Bible, translation, Israel)

[jewish_networking]

Sometime ago, I read "GATES TO THE OLD CITY" By Raphael Patai:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...o-the-old-city

Of course the above work would be considered an anthology of the various genres of Jewish Literature.

Raphael Patai wrote another worthwhile book with a short title, "THE JEWISH MIND:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...he_Jewish_Mind

The follow up to "THE JEWISH MIND", By Raphael Patai, was considered by some to be "A CERTAIN
PEOPLE" by Charles E. Silberman. If you go to Amazon, you'll find a review by the Library Journal.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...certain-people

I've found "THE STUDY OF FOLKLORE", by Alan Dundes, a University of
California at Berkley professor, of such a cerebral nature that to employ a standard cliché ,when the going gets tough, the tough get going in order to savor it's delights.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...dy_of_Folklore

Never one to shrink back from mixing metaphors, the below link provides a window by which the discerning might plumb the depths of Alan Dundes' Analytics in the folklore field:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgrzn

At this juncture, having woken from a sound sleep, I've yet to even scratch the surface of the below
volume that features, by it's own admission, "JEWISH FAIRY TALES & LEGENDS" by "Aunt Naomi
(AKA Gertrude Landa)


https://sacred-texts.com/jud/jftl/index.htm


Gosh, I don't know if it's possible to bring the above to the attention of the education bureau of the
Local Jewish Federation, so that a course might be generated, for all to enjoy. It might just take
the ministrations of a scholar in residence....

[jewish_networking]

Here's a link to an article on stock figures in Jewish folktales:

Article Details

Issac Bashevis Singer, a 20th century master of Yiddish literature, also reached back into Jewish Folklore for the
foolish figure. Here's a translation of one of his most famous short stories "GIMPEL THE FOOL":

https://687faweb.blackbaudondemand.c...text%20PDF.pdf

[Pumpkin mouse]

I like the one about “ The golem of Prague “, where a Rabbi builds a creature or something out of mud or clay to protect the village, and soon he gets too big and hard to control. He was forced back into an attic and is turned back.
I don’t remember it all in detail.

[Pumpkin mouse]

I have a few Chassidic tales: “ Treasury of Chassidic tales on the Torah” by Rabbi Zevin.
“ Tales of Tzaddikim” by G.MaTov.
“ A story a day”by G. Sofer
I think they’re all my ArtScroll

[rosends]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin mouse

I like the one about “ The golem of Prague “, where a Rabbi builds a creature or something out of mud or clay to protect the village, and soon he gets too big and hard to control. He was forced back into an attic and is turned back.
I don’t remember it all in detail.

Some light reading
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/09...api_taft_p1_i9

[jewish_networking]

Thank you so much Pumpkin Mouse for your contributions to helping us obtain better insights into the impact of Jewish Folklore & Folktales in our lives & consciousness.

Jewish women have played a role in enriching our lives by drawing from the wholesome well of Jewish Culture & tradition.

1). Martha Wolfenstein (1911-1976)-A psychoanalyst and writer was featured in "THE STUDY OF FOLKLORE" by Alan Dundes. The article she wrote for the book was entitled "JACK & THE BEANSTALK, AN AMERICAN VERSION". In 1954 she wrote the book "CHILDERN'S HUMOR". In 1955, with the anthropologist
Margret Mead she edited the book entitled "CHILDHOOD IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURES".

2). Another Martha Wolfenstein, a literary pioneer, predates the above academic. For the full nine yards , the folks at The Jewish Women's Archive: Sharing Stories/Inspiring Change, can't be improved upon.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wolfenstein-martha

[Pumpkin mouse]

Originally Posted by rosends

Some light reading
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/09...api_taft_p1_i9

Thanks Rabbi, that looks good, a whole book on that story. I like hearing discussions and different ways of looking at the same story or passage. I also like reading Midrash, stories from the Talmud and Gemara.

[jewish_networking]

When one weighs what could be considered whole galaxies of content in Jewish Folktales, at least two passages in the Hebrew Bible can come to mind:

Proverbs 17:22 22A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.



Isaiah 50:4 4The Sovereign LORD has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

[jewish_networking]

Thank you Rosends for posting with respect to the Golem Of Prague! Here's a link to the legend:

The Legend of Golem | Prague.net

[jewish_networking]

With the wonders of the Golem of Prague happily in mind, it's really too bad that we can't conjure up our own version of Sherlock Holmes to provide the definitive reason for the absence of the third chapter of Habakkuk in the Habakkuk Pesher
(Commentary) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some have indicated that the Psalm contained in Habakkuk chapter three is of an
especially enduring literary quality.

Digital Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem - Commentary on Habakkuk

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/pesher

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/art...n-of-habakkuk/