Yiddish Folktales

by Beatrice Weinreich

  113. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Sh. Fuks, n.p., 1926. SOURCE: V.A. 32:4. COMMENTS: Rebbe Yitskhok Ayzik of Kaliv (d. 1821) was a disciple of R. Shmelke of Nikolsburg, Czechoslovakia.

  114. TELLER: Moyshe Zilbershteyn, Mekarev (Makarov/Makorovo), U.S.S.R., ca. 1900. COLLECTOR: M. Tolpin, Ostre (Ostrog), Poland, who mailed it to YIVO in 1928. SOURCE: V.A. 32:48. COMMENTS: If the collector first heard the tale at the turn of the century, then the hero of this legend is probably Rebbe Nokhem of Mekarev (d. 1852), who lived during the reign of Czar Nicolas I (1825-1855). Eighteen is considered a lucky number in Jewish lore, because the letters khes and yud which spell the Hebrew word for life, khay, have the numerical value of eighteen (see gematriye in Glossary).

  115. SOURCE: V.A. 28:9a.

  116. TELLER/COLLECTOR: K. Volf, Tomeshev (Tomaszów), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:10. COMMENTS: The hero of this legend is probably Rebbe Yisroel Shmuel of Tomeshev (d. 1869).

  117. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Nosn Mark, Redevits (Radauti), Rumania, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:51. COMMENTS: Reb Shmelke (d. 1778) of Nikolsburg, Czechoslovakia.

  118. SOURCE: V.A. 32:3. COMMENTS: The anonymous collector noted at the bottom of the manuscript, “I tell this story because it reminds me of Yehoash’s ‘A yonkiper maysele.’ ”

  119. TELLER: Azriel Klayner, a Stolin Hasid, Horkhov (Horochów), Poland, 1928. COLLECTOR: B. Oksman, Rozhishtsh (Rozyszcze), Poland. SOURCE: V.A. 32:37 (2). COMMENTS: R. Yisroel Perlov (d. 1922), hero of this legend, was the son of the Rebbe of Karlin. (See the introduction to Part 6 regarding the local gentile population’s belief in the wonder-working abilities of Hasidic rebbes.) A similar tale was told about the founder of Hasidism, the Baal Shem Tov. (See “The Besht’s Prayer Produces Rain” in Ben-Amos and Mintz, In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov [1970], pp. 35–36.

  120. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Nosn Mark, Redevits (Radauti), Rumania, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:78.

  121. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Sh. Morovitsh, Gorzhkovits (Gorzkowice), Poland, 1927. SOURCE: V.A. 32:42. COMMENTS: The Rebbe of Khentshin referred to is probably R. Khayim Shmuel of Khentshin (d. 1916).

  122. TELLER: Brokhe di tshulotshnitse (Brokhe the stocking-maker), Roslov (Roslavl), U.S.S.R., 1928. COLLECTOR: J. Tshernyak. SOURCE: V.A. 154:3.

  123. TELLER/COLLECTOR: M. Hoyzknekht, n.p., n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:38.

  124. TELLER: E. Zilberman, Ostrov (Ostrów), Poland, 1929. SOURCE: V.A. 32:81. COMMENTS: Reb Henekh was the founder of the Alexander Hasidic dynasty in Poland.

  125. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Warsaw, Poland, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:9a. COMMENTS: The rebbe in this legend is probably R. Yekhezkl Taub of Kuzmir (d. 1856).

  126. COLLECTOR: Nosn Mark, Redevits (Radauti), Rumania, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:50. COMMENTS: Rebbe Avrom HaMalekh, “The Angel,” was the son of Dov Ber of Mezritsh and grandson of the Baal Shem Tov.

  127. TELLER: M. Kosavski, Kaminke (Kamionka), Poland, 1927. COLLECTOR: M. Barshavski. SOURCE: V.A. 32:8. COMMENTS: The letters of the Jewish alphabet that spell the word shabes (sabbath) have a total numerical value of 702 (shin = 300, beys = 2, sov = 400); hence the “702” candles in this Cabalistic legend. (See gematriye in Glossary.)

  128. COLLECTOR: B. Oksman, who heard it from his father, in Rozhishtsh (Rozyszcze), Poland, 1928. SOURCE: V.A. 32:37 (3). COMMENTS: The rebbe of this legend is probably R. Mordkhe of Nizkhizh (Niesuchojeze), Poland (d. 1880).

  129. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Hersh Elavski, Koyl (Kolo), Poland, 1929. SOURCE: V.A. 32:67. COMMENTS: Older variants of this tale can be found in Bin Gorion (1967), vol. II, story 160, and vol. III, p. 1513; cf. Gaster (1924), story 138, and Schwartzbaum (1968), p. 291. Folktale collectors often note the freedom with which storytellers change the names of the heroes of a legend. The teller of this story, which is a version of a Talmudic legend (Kethuboth 77b), replaced the original hero–(Rabbi Joshua Ben Levi, who lived in the first half of the third century) with the twelfth-century Hebrew poet and philosopher Judah Halevi. In the Yiddish variant (in V.A. 30:20), which is told like a wonder tale, the hero is simply “a man named Joshua,” in a nonspecific setting. The number of narratives about Biblical and post-Biblical scholars and leaders in the YIVO archives as well as in the published collections of Yiddish folktales of the twentieth century were small. The reason for the paucity may well be that the collectors understood literally their instructions not to write down any stories which informants might have read in written sources. These included chap-books and the various compendia of tales in Hebrew or the Yiddish vernacular. If the collector was aware of a written source, even if the teller knew the story only as an oral legend, the collector would be apt to exclude it. Another possibility is that this was mainly a written genre, rather than one favored by oral narrators. Finally, the paucity of these tales may, of course, result from the loss during World War II of the archival folders that contained such tales.

  130. TELLER: Grunye Royznberg, Sharkoyshtshine (Szarkowszczyzna), Poland, 1927. COLLECTOR: Toyvye Yofe. SOURCE: V.A. 32:20. COMMENTS: This is an oral variant of a Talmudic legend (Hullin 60a) with a long tradition in printed Yiddish sources (e.g. the sixteenth-century Mayse-bukh). See Gaster (1934), story 57; cf. Gaster (1924), story 9, and his sources on p. 187.

  131. TELLER: Toyvye Brand, 20 years old, Torne (Tarnów), Poland, 1930. COLLECTOR: N. Falman. SOURCE: V.A. 26:9.

  132. TELLER: Anon., from Brod (Brody), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 5, pp. 140–41. COMMENTS: Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089-1164), was a Biblical commentator, poet, grammarian, philosopher, astronomer, and physician.

  133. SOURCE: V.A. 27:3. COMMENTS: This tale is a close retelling of a Talmudic tale (Shabbat 89a); cf. the Midrash quoted by Tosafot. Louis Ginzberg (1909-1938) vol. III, p. 118, gives an English translation of the Talmudic tale, and in vol. VI, p. 49, n. 257, he provides other explanations, as given in various midrashic tales, for why the Scriptures speak of “the Torah of Moses.”

  134. COLLECTOR: Anon., from Hrubeshoyv (Hrubieszów), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:62. COMMENTS: Jonathan Eybeschuetz (1690/95–1764), the Baal ha Urim ve Tummim, an eighteenth-century Talmudist and Cabalist, was one of the greatest preachers of his time and one of the giants of the Talmud.

  135. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Moyshe Klaynman, Preshberg (Pressburg/Bratislava), Czechoslovakia, 1926. SOURCE: V.A. 32:41. COMMENTS: Distinguished religious scholars were often called by the titles of their major works. The Ksav-soyfer (Ketav Sofer), is Abraham Samuel Benjamin Schreiber (1815-1871), rabbi and head of a yeshive in Preshberg, and the oldest son of the Khsam-soyfer (Hatam Sofer), Moses Schreiber.

  136. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Yerakhmiel Shteygman, Lomzhe (Lomza), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:75. COMMENTS: Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Akiba Eger of Preshberg (Pressburg/Bratislava), Czechoslovakia (d. 1758), was the author of Mishnat de Rabbi Akiba.

  137. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Redevits (Radauti), Rumania, n.d. SOURCE: V.A. 32:18. COMMENTS: Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (1565?–1630) author of Shenei Luhot ha-Berit (Two Tablets of the Covenant), was a rabbi, Cabalist, and communal leader. The name Shelah is taken from the first letters of each word in the title of his major work. Cf. Bin Gorion (1976), vol. II, story 315, p. 891.

  138. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Reb Khaim Brisker, Hrubeshoyv (Hrubieszów), Poland, 1927. SOURCE: V.A. 32:59. TALE TYPE: 1639*. COMMENTS: This legend and the many variants of it reflect the distress of the wives and children of scholars who were poor bread-winners. In Lehman’s variant (Prilutski and Lehman [1933], pp. 165–68) Elijah the Prophet advises the wife to induce her husband to start a practical business, stop his interminable studies and apply himself to his familial responsibilities.

  139. TELLER: M. Shmid, who heard it in Eastern Europe sometime before 1920, mailed to Litvin from Youngstown, Ohio, n.d. COLLECTOR: A. Litwin. SOURCE: V.A. 86a:7.

  140. TELLER: Anon., from Myor (Miory), Poland, n.d. COLLECTOR: Shmuel Zanvl Pipe, SOURCE: Pipe (1941), no. 37, p. 164; also Pipe (1946), no. 10, p. 296.

  141. TELLER: From Konstantin (Konstantynów), Poland, n.d. COLLECTOR: Shmuel Zanvl Pipe. SOURCE: Pipe
(1941), no. 70, pp. 175–76; also Pipe (1946), no. 25, p. 298.

  142. TELLER: N. Gelfand, n.p., 1921. COLLECTOR: A. Litwin. SOURCE: V.A. 86a:10. COMMENTS: 1) Czar Nicholas I reigned in Russia from 1825 to 1855, a time when minorities were severely oppressed. Under the dreaded “cantonist” legislation (1827–1856), a quota of Jewish boys between the ages of twelve and twenty-five were forced to serve for twenty-five years in the army. It was the government’s hope that the military life would alienate Jewish cantonists from their own people and religion. Russian Jewish communities had special officers, dubbed khapers, who seized male children—some as young as eight or ten—who were then incarcerated in a communal building and handed over to the military authorities to fill the cantonist quota. 2) The Eyn yankev is a bilingual Yiddish-Hebrew edition of Jacob ben Solomon ibn Habib’s (1445?-1516) Ein Ya’akov. It is a collection of all the agodes (legends) from the Babylonian Talmud and a few from the Jerusalem Talmud, together with various commentaries. Conceived as a popular work and designed to educate the general public to the religious life and faith, it has appeared in over one hundred editions.

  143. TELLER: Anon., from Pshiskhe (Przysucha), Poland, 1909. COLLECTOR: Shmuel Lehman. SOURCE: Prilutski and Lehman (1933), no. 19, p. 169.

  144. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Moyshe Dovid Berzhan, Poland, 1928. SOURCE: V.A. 32:14. COMMENTS: A variant of this tale, in which Reb Israel Salanter is the hero, is given in Dawidowicz (1967), pp. 173–74. Cf. our tale no. 118, “Reb Khaim Urbakh Rocks a Cradle on Yom Kippur.”

  145. COLLECTOR: I. Olsvanger, n.d. SOURCE: Olsvanger (1931), no. 79, pp. 45–46.

  146. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Loytsk, Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 28, p. 205.

  147. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Sonik (Sanok), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 8, p. 143.

  148. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Sukhodol (Suchodol), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 75, p. 170.

  149. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Sh. An-ski, ca. 1912, An-Ski Ethnographic Expedition. SOURCE: An-ski (1925), pp. 248–49; Rekhtman (1958), pp. 55–56.

  150. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Ignaline (Ignalino), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938) no. 55, pp. 161–62, abridged.

  151. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Visoke (Wysokie Litewskie), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 127, pp. 190–91.

  152. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Ostre (Ostróg), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 77, p. 171.

  153. TELLER: Alter Zilberman, born in Motele (Motol), Poland; mailed to Litwin in 1926 from Long Branch, N.J. COLLECTOR: A. Litwin. SOURCE: V.A. 86a:3.

  154. TELLER: Brokhe di tshulotshnitse (Brokhe the stocking-maker), Roslov (Roslavl), U.S.S.R., 1928. COLLECTOR: J. Tshernyak. SOURCE: V.A. 154:2.

  155. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Berzhan (Brzezany), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 66, pp. 165–66.

  156. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Cracow, Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 36, pp. 152–53. COMMENTS: Rema is an acronym for Rabbi Moses ben Israel Isserles (1525?–1572), one of the great authorities and codifiers of Jewish law. Called the “Maimonides of Polish Jewry,” R. Isserles wrote on halakha, philosophy, Cabala, homiletics, and science. He is perhaps best known for his work Ha-Mappah, which contains explanations and supplements to Caro’s Shulkhan Arukh, giving the specific customs of Ashkenaz.

  157. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Sh. An-ski, ca. 1912, An-ski Ethnographic Expedition. SOURCE: An-ski (1925), pp. 249–51; Rekhtman (1958), pp. 58–59.

  158. TELLER: The story appears in actor Joseph Buloff’s memoirs; he heard it from the wife of his kheyder teacher, in Vilna, Poland, ca. 1920. SOURCE: Buloff (1986), pp. 159–60, abridged. COMMENTS: The golem legend in Jewish folklore goes back to Rabbinic times, when Rabbi Raba, for example, is said to have created a homunculus who was like a man in all but the ability to speak. In Eastern Europe there were many legends about the making of goylomim by both famous and lesser-known rabbis and mystics. One of the most popular Polish Jewish legends was about the golem of Khelm (Chelm), Poland, created by the Cabalist Rabbi Elijah of Khelm in the sixteenth century. When the Khelm golem ran amok, like the Prague golem before it, it was returned to dust by removing from its forehead the piece of parchment containing God’s name. See Scholem (1965), pp. 203–4.

  159. TELLER: Ben Schneider (b. 1888); Lutsk (Luck), Poland; heard it in Berlin after World War II. COLLECTOR: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. SOURCE: Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1972b), pp. 135–36.

  160. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Sukhodol (Suchodol), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 76, p. 171.

  161. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Visoke (Wysokie Litewskie), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1940), no. 129, pp. 191–92.

  162. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Sukhodol (Suchodol), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 80, pp. 172–73.

  163. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Gorlits (Gorlice), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 25, p. 149.

  164. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Rige (Riga), Latvia, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 68, p. 166.

  165. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Shebershin (Szczebrzeszyn), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 20, p. 147. COMMENTS: See Bernard Weinryb, The Beginnings of East European Jewry in Legend and Historiography (Leiden, 1962), for legends concerning the arrival of Jews in Eastern Europe.

  166. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Yas (Jasi/Jassy), Rumania, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 137, p. 153.

  167. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Lodz, Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 106, p. 183.

  168. COLLECTOR: Avrom Rekhtman, 1912–1914. SOURCE: Rekhtman (1958), pp. 275–77.

  169. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Berditshev (Berdichev), U.S.S.R.; he claimed to have seen this tale in the Pinkes (Book of Records) of Sharigrad, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 2, pp. 138–39.

  170. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Hrubeshoyv (Hrubieszów), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 32, p. 151.

  171. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Sonik (Sanok), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 87, pp. 175–76.

  172. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Visoke (Wysokie Litewskie), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 97, p. 180.

  173. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Ruzhan (Rozan), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 100, p. 98.

  174. TELLER: Sonye Naymark (b. ca. 1835), known as Sonye di Khak-home (Sonia the Wise), Mohilev province. SOURCE: Litwin (1917), no. 7, vol. III, pp. 1–3.

  175. TELLER: H. Yaffe, n.p., n.d. COLLECTOR: M. Weinreich. SOURCE: M. Weinreich (1926), pp. 235–36. COMMENTS: See note to tale no. 111, “The Rebbe’s Melody.”

  176. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Hrubeshoyv (Hrubieszow), Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 88, p. 176. COMMENTS: According to tradition, on the seventh day of the holiday of Succos, everyone’s fate for the coming year is irrevocably sealed. Willow twigs (heshaynes) are traditionally carried during processions around the synagogue on this day.

  177. TELLER/COLLECTOR: Anon., from Lodz, Poland, n.d. SOURCE: Cahan (1938), no. 101, pp. 181–82. COMMENTS: The collector notes that “the zmore is an ancient creature in human form that goes at night to suck milk from the breast of its victim. Since it is female, its chosen victims are men.”

  178. TELLER: Velvl Godl (b. ca. 1853), witnessed this event in 1865. COLLECTOR: A. Litwin. SOURCE: Litwin (1917), vol. IV, pp. 1–9.

  Notes

  (Works listed in the bibliography are cited by author and date of publication. Refer to bibliography for full publication information.)

  Introduction

  1. See Zinberg (1975) vol. 8, which is devoted to this literature.

  2. The earlist printed edition appeared in Basle in 1602, compiled by Jacob ben Abraham of Mezritsh, Lithuania (now Miedzyrzec, Poland). See Jakob Meitlis (1933) Das Ma’assehbuch, seine Entstehung und Quellengeschichte, Berlin.

  3. The An-ski expedition’s precious collections are stored in several libraries in Leningrad, but unfortunately, scholars in the U.S.S.R. have not published them nor made them available to folklorists from other c
ountries. Little is known of the fate of the tales and other folklore forms collected by the “Historic-Ethnographic Societies in Memory of An-ski” that sprang up in East European towns and cities after An-ski’s death in 1920. We do know, however, that the Historic-Ethnographic Society he founded in Vilna shortly before he died named YIVO as the official heir to its materials, and that they were transferred in 1938. Some of these have turned up in YIVO’s Vilna Ethnographic Commission Archive in New York. See Eleanor Gordon-Mlotok, ed. (1980) S. An-ski, His Life and Works, catalog, YIVO, New York, vol. 9, pp. 113–19.

  4. “Ankete numer 2: Folksmayses,” in Yedies fun YIVO, no. 22, July 29, 1927.

  5. Szajkovski (1976) YIVO and Its Founders, catalog, YIVO, New York, p. 13, items 203–7.

  6. “Ankete numer 2: Folkmayses,” in Yedies fun YIVO, no. 22, July 29, 1927.

  7. Cahan, who started gathering Yiddish folklore as early as 1896, was a member of a distinguished circle of collectors in Warsaw, headed by classic Yiddish writer Y.-L. Peretz. When Cahan emigrated to the United States in 1904, he continued gathering material from East European immigrants in this country, and later emerged as mentor to YIVO’s folklorists in Vilna, Poland.

  8. Later, when the YIVO aspirantur (an advanced program of study) was established in Vilna in 1935, Cahan enabled Pipe to attend. Upon completion of the course, Pipe became an associate of YIVO. He published a number of important studies and collections and would undoubtedly have attained eminence had he not died at the hands of the Nazis at the age of thirty-six.

  9. A. Litwin (1917), vol. 3, “Sonye di Khakhome,” pp. 1–20.

  10. YIVO Archive, V.A. 154:150.

  11. A. Litwin (1917), vol. 3, p. 1 of “Sonye di Khakhome.” See her story “The Balshem and the Dibbuk.”

  12. The Vilna Archive includes collections created by the YIVO Ethnographic Commission, as well as those received from the Jewish Section of the Minsk Institute for Belorussian Culture and from various Jewish ethnographic societies throughout Eastern Europe. The Cahan and Litwin Archives at YIVO, though much smaller than the Vilna Archives, were also good sources of Yiddish folktales and legends. Litwin’s collection from the 1920s consists of both handwritten tales readers sent him and newspaper clippings of his columns “Fun zeydns vinkl” (“From Grandpa’s Corner”) and “Fun ahn kheyder” (“From the Old Kheyder“), in which he published legends, short local traditions (memorats), and humorous anecdotes. Some of the tales in this volume are from these two archives. I also utilized some fifteen sources of Yiddish oral folktales collected by eminent folklorists such as An-ski, Lehman, Olsvanger, Ravnitski, Pipe, Prilutski, and Wiener. Here I found material to complement the existing body of tales selected from the archival sources.