Mimekor Yisrael, Abridged and Annotated Edition: Classical Jewish Folktales

292 Pages·1991·11.018 MB·English

by  Micha Joseph bin Gorion

JEWISH FOLKTALES
d by MICHA JOSEPH BIN GORION
d by EMANUEL BIN GORION
ranslated by I. M. LASK
ed, with an introduction and
headnotes, by DAN BEN-AMOS

MIMEKOR
YISRAEL
**■ i v
SELECTED CLASSICAL
JEWISH FOLKTALES
Sfcotr np»D
In Assemblies bless God, the Lord,
O you who are from the
fountain of Israel
[ Psalm 68:27]
M I M E KO R
YISRAEL
SELECTED CLASSICAL
JEWISH FOLKTALES
Collected by Micha J oseph bin Gorion
Edited by Emanuel bin Gorion
Translated by I. M. Lask
Prepared, with an introduction and headnotes,
by Dan Ben-Amos
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS
® 1990 by Indiana University Press
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Manufactured in the United States of America
LC number 88-46029
ISBN 0-253-31156-X (hardbound)
ISBN 0-253-20588-3 (paperback)
1 2 3 4 5 94 93 92 9i 90
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xi
In Bible Days
1. The Four Guardians of the World i
2. The Bird Milham 3
3. Leviathan and the Fox 4
4. Noah’s Vineyard 6
5. Who Holds the Fortress? 7
6. Abraham and Ishmael 8
7. The Tenth Generation 11
8. At the Well 13
9. The Headsman 14
10. The Jars of Honey 16
11. The Spider and the Hornet 18
12. The Compassion of a Father 19
13. The Borrowed Egg 21
14. The True Heir 23
15. The Merciful Widow 24
16. Ziz-Sadai and the Queen of Sheba 26
17. The Case of the Letter Yod 30
18. Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue 32
19. One Man in a Thousand I Found 34
20. A Woman among All These I Did Not Find 36
21. Three Wise Words 37
22. The Talk of Beasts and the Chirping of Birds 40
23. The Craftsman’s Wife 43
24. Solomon’s Daughter 49
[v]
vi Contents
25. The Story of Tobiah 51
26. The Story of Susanna 5 5
27. Zerubbabel and King Darius 56
In the Days of the Second Temple
28. Alexander in Jerusalem 62
29. A Fair Judgment 64
30. Tribute from Eden 65
31. The Story of Judith 67
32. The Daughter of Mattathias 69
33. The Mother 7°
34. Paulina, or the Deed of Shame in the Temple 72
35. Abba Golish 74
Talmudic Tales
36. The Early Days of Hillel 76
37. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus 77
38. The Wife of Rabbi Akiba 80
39. Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa and His Wife 81
40. Mattiah ben Heresh 83
41. Nathan of the Radiance 85
42. Nahum of Gamzo 88
43. Onkelos the Proselyte 89
44. Martyred by the Romans 90
45. The Book of Genesis 99
46. The Weasel and the Pit 101
47. Joseph the Sabbath-Lover 103
48. Dama ben Netinah 104
49. Rabbi Joshua ben Ulam and Ninus the Butcher 104
50. The Drunkard and His Sons 105
51. The Commandment of Tzitzit 107
52. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and Elijah the Prophet 109
53. Extenuating Circumstances 111
54. Generosity 113
55. Rabbi Beroka and Elijah the Prophet 116
56. The Story of Joseph the Gardener of Ashkelon and His Wife 117
57. The Restless Dead 119
58. The Tale of ben Sever and Shefifon ben Layish 121
59. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the Angel of Death 123
Contents vii
Rabbinical Tales
60. The Sons of Moses 126
61. Dan and His Brother Tribes 128
62. Bustanai 132
63. The Story of Bulan, King of the Khazars: The Revelation 138
64. The Story of Bulan, King of the Khazars: The Debate 140
65. In the Depths of the Sea 143
66. The Death of Poets: Judah Haleyi 144
67. The Sage and the Prince 144
68. The Story of Pope Elhanan 146
69. The Story of Rabbi Amnon 151
70. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon and the Physicians: The Poison 153
71. A Swift Way by Sea: The Rambam 155
72. The Parable of the Two Precious Stones 156
73. The Golem: The Fashioning of the Golem 158
74. The Golem: The Death of the Golem 162
In the Land of Israel
75. A Story of the Temple 163
76. The Foundation of the Temple 164
77. The Tombs of the Kings 166
78. The Pasha’s Lance 167
79. The Dead Bears Witness 169
80. The Shewbread 172
Forebears and Descendants
81. Naham Ketufa 175
82. Ibn Ezra and Judah Halevi 178
83. A Precious Jewel 179
84. The Breaking of the Bow 180
85. Rose Honey Instead of Hot Lead 182
Kabbalists and Hasidim
86. Joseph Della Reina 184
87. The Mock Marriage 194
88. The Dybbuk Stories: The Ferrara Dybbuk 195
89. The Dybbuk Stories: The Safed Widow 196
viii Contents
90. The Dybbuk Stories: The Man from Tripoli 200
91. The Baal Shem Tov Reveals Himself 202
92. The Pipe 204
93. The Death of the Baal Shem Tov 205
Timeless Tales
94. The Story of the Woman Whose Upper Body Was
Beastlike in Form 207
95. The Story of the Jerusalemite 218
96. The Story of a Woman-Loving King 232
97. The False Widow 237
98. The Keys to the Miser’s Treasures 237
99. The Jew and the Idol Worshiper 240
100. The Righteous Is Delivered from Distress 241
101. Seven Good Years 243
102. The Loan 244
103. The Three Brothers 245
104. The Scholar, the Rich Man, and the God-Fearing Man 247
105. Elijah the Craftsman 252
106. If His Name Decrees 254
Tales of Wisdom
107. Do Not Tell Your Wife Any Secrets 256
108. Cast Your Bread upon the Waters 257
109. The Two Ravens, the Lion, and the Wayfarer 259
no. The Hunter and the Bird 260
in. The Wise Village Maiden 261
112. The He-Mouse and the She-Mouse 264
113. A King for a Year 266
Bibliography 269