Nathan Ausubel (1898–1986)

Excellent book, but has its flaws.

First of all, this is, overall, a wonderful book for anyone interested in Jewish folklore. Frequently I'll be reading another book, note a tale that sounds rather familiar, and discover it's from Ausubel. And it is excellent; my only complaints are minor.

But there are some things to be aware of.

Notably, the index is suboptimal, often failing to include more general topics as entries, and, once an entry, it happily includes things that only mention the show more subject at hand in passing (as in, "Once, in [X], there lived..."), as I discovered when trying to find what it mentioned about Israel (despite the reasonably large entry for Jerusalem).

Its sourcing is also poor. Often, if it bothers to include a source at all, it'll say, "Adapted from the Talmud" or something similarly vague (the Talmud, for reference, is not a small book; it's almost two million words long, often takes up a bookcase--not shelf, case--and if you read one double-sided page a day it would take you seven and a half years to work through it all).

In short, it's not great if you want to research something specific. But as a diverse collection, if you don't intend on going to deep on any particular subject or story, it is hard to beat.

Book details: 1948 edition, 1952 printing; hardcover. show less

Exhaustive and fascinating anthology of Jewish myths, legends, parables and other material. I really enjoyed reading all the different stories, including many I had never heard before (such as one tale in which the whale Leviathan teaches a boy 70 languages and studies Torah with him!). The wide-ranging collection is well-organized by theme, and Ausubel includes useful introductions with insights and context for each section. Well worth the read for anyone interested in Judaism and/or folklore.

When I was a little girl, I read this book over and over again. My mom now refers to me as a "stomach Jew," a Jew more culturally-attuned than religious. This book had a lot to do with that. My favorite stories were about the miracle-working rabbis, the ones who tried to bring about the coming of the Messiah. Perhaps not a coincidence, then, that when I grew up and became a medievalist, I studied the cult of saints!

excellent intro to likes of Der Tunkeler (Joseph Tunkel), B.Kovner (Jacob Adler), Mordche Spektor, Z.Wendroff (Zalman Wendrowsky), as well as Samuel Ornitz, S.J.Agnon, and others. Ausubel also compiled good Treasury of Jewish Folklore.