To my children Adam Mira and Jesse may the legacy of storytelling continue S
Introduction by Peninnah Schram THIS COLLECTION OF JEWISH FOLKTALES REVEALS MANY FACETS OF the Jewish people Throughout Jewish history Jews developed an oral expertise in their learning of Torah and Talmud In addition Jews honed necessary verbal skills in their business dealings and relationships in countries with Arabic or Christian rulers as well as their non Jewish neighbors These skills included all types of mental and verbal abilities such as clever and resourceful reasoning debating quick wit plays on words and tricky responses in tight situations In turn this virtuoso verbal mastery has determined the types of folktales that have been passed down through the generations But the wit has always been applied with wisdom never for deception or cleverness for its own sake When the stories strike a chord within us often because of surprise endings the use of metaphors vivid language exaggeration fantastic characters heroes and heroines challenging problems and other rhetorical devices they offer us this wisdom or khokhma and remain with us for easy retrieval when needed In that way when Jews have needed that wisdom the tales have been there in our well of wisdom to draw from These humorous stories do not always create a laughing
response on the part of the reader or listener They are not always ha ha funny Instead of a burst of out loud laughter the response may be more of an inner aha or ah or just a smile of recognition or a nod of the head These kinds of stories offer us a sense of perspective They might even lift a cloud from our hearts They restore hope and faith in God They put us on the right path Teaching always teaching And that is what the reteller Sheldon Oberman had intended In addition to the stories brief Jewish historical notes are interwoven throughout the book to help put the stories into a context The sequence of the stories is arranged chronologically through history as much as possible Some stories take place during a specific historical time while others might have been told during that time period However all of the stories are part of the Jewish repertoire The book begins with the biblical characters Solomon and Elijah who become transformed in folktales into two of the most important and popular folklore heroes in Jewish oral tradition Then there are stories associated with the Talmudic period including some with non Jewish heroes who actually appear in Jewish folklore such as Emperor Antoninus and Alexander the Great The next series of stories takes place after the Roman period and into the medieval centuries And finally there are many folktales that bring us to more contemporary times when Jews traveled to different countries throughout the world In this collection there are examples of many genres of stories such as legends of King Solomon the first four tales religious tales Elijah tales Enough and Golden Plates Who
