commentary after his own notes to each story In addition I expanded the sources and variants list and also added tale types and motifs for most of the stories I felt that this format would serve everyone better than if I were to merge my notes with his This book now serves as his legacy for all of us who will read and retell these stories Just as Glueckl of Hamelyn wrote her diaries as an ethical will so too is this book along with all of Sheldon's other books of stories his Ethical Will He included stories that teach us traditions values and lessons of Judaism When stories come alive in the minds of the readers listeners the past is projected into the present and in turn transmit cultural identity and self knowledge One of the stories in this book about the holy fool Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg reminded me of Obie In the story Reb Shmelke gives an old ring to a beggar asking for handouts When Reb Shmelke's wife discovers this she scolds him telling him it was actually a valuable ring with a diamond What does Reb Shmelke do He doesn't try to get the ring back from the beggar Rather he finds the beggar to advise him to get a good price for this ring What s the connection that I made between the story and Obie Apparently in his spare time Obie collected what he called found objects to create collage art Once he donated some items from his bric a brac collection to a friend holding a garage sale and then went to the sale and bought them all back As a trickster himself he understood the beautiful value of tzedakah There are several stories that deal with this theme Don't Ask Changing a Mind and Softening a
Obie has done something valuable with stories all his life He collected and reworked the folktales He gave them away through his tellings and writings In this way he gave them new life and helped to bring more justice and righteousness into our lives His goal was always for us to go out to retell the stories so that Judaism would continue to thrive and remain vibrantly meaningful We are all fortunate that Sheldon Oberman was able to complete choosing the stories retelling them in his voice and adding notations that place the stories in a context for us His legacy continues to live in this
Jewish Folktales
Solomon and the Ant The Jewish people have a special love for tales of wisdom cleverness and tricks You can find these tales as far back as the Bible The snake tricks Eve into eating the apple Abraham cleverly convinces God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he can find ten good people and Isaac wisely asks an angel for a blessing after wrestling with the angel all through the night There are countless stories of wisdom cleverness and trickery told beyond the Biblical stories There are midrashim created by the rabbis and folktales recounted by the common people about Biblical characters like Solomon who lived three thousand years ago and was famous for his wisdom Many tales set out to prove that Solomon was the greatest and the wisest of all kings It is natural for people to brag that their king is the very best People want to be proud of their leaders but they don't want their leaders to be too proud of themselves That's why some folktales set out to prove that no king or any human being is all powerful or all knowing The wonderful thing about King Solomon was that he was never too proud to learn He was willing to learn from even the lowliest creature In this tale the great King Solomon is brought down to earth but because he accepts the wisdom of a little ant he becomes even greater than he was before SoLOMON HAD A MAGIC CARPET THAT ONLY HE COULD COMMAND One day he was flying high above the earth and he was very pleased with himself He said I am the greatest of all I fly above the world I
