Customer Reviews

Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World

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WONDROUS WORLDWIDE JEWISH FOLKTALES: A REVIEW OF MIRIAM'S TAMBOURINE

by Cherie Karo Schwartz

Storyteller, Author, and Educator

MIRIAM'S TAMBOURINE, in its several printings thus far, provides an excellent, entertaining, enlightening foray into Jewish folklore. These retellings of worldwide Jewish folktales by master storyteller and honored author Howard Schwartz (who recently won the National Jewish Book Award for TREE OF SOULS), are imaginatively spun, carefully annotated, and thoughtfully sourced. They are a treasure trove for storytellers, educators, clergy, families, and are for story readers and storytellers of all ages. The fifty tales in this stellar collection of Jewish folk tales from around the world exhibit the range and depth of the Jewish experience. There are tales from such disparate Jewish communities as Kurdistan, Eastern Europe of two hundred years ago, Afghanistan, India, France, Palestine of five hundred to a thousand years ago, Egypt, Italy, and ancient Babylon. Each story embodies a facet of Jewish life: traditions, aspirations, and challenges.

The forward by Dr. Dov Noy (founder fo the Israel Folktale Archives) and the introduction by Schwartz provide a rich and enlightening overview of the world of Jewish folk tales. Each of the tales in MIRIAM'S TAMBOURINE brings a particular culture, time period, and series of events brilliantly alive for the reader. There are tales of fantasy ("Daniel and the Dragon"), destined love ("The Maiden and the Tree"), animals ("The Donkey Girl", "The Stork Princess"), and miracles ("Miraculous Dust"). And, there are tales of compensation and justice, such as "The Wise Old Woman of the Forest", a Moroccan prototype of The Wizard of Oz theme!

One of my favorite tales in this noteworthy collection is "The Staff of Elijah", from the oral tradition of Rumania. It employs the symbols of seeker, Elijah the Prophet, a magical staff, and the Holy Land to create a beautiful tale of return. The story stands powerfully on its own as an enchantingly told tale. For those seeking the story beyond the story, Howard Schwartz' masterful endnote sourcing and commentary brings the interwoven history, characters, and theme of reunification into clarity

The stories in MIRIAM'S TAMBOURINE are treasured resources for storytellers, educators, and parents. And, they are great stories for young and old to enjoy for years of reading pleasure. Howard Schwartz's vast knowledge, his imaginative creativity, his expansive in-depth endnotes, and his storyteller's keen eye for retelling tales make MIRIAM'S TAMBOURINE a delight-filled journey of discovery of the worldwide tapestry of Jewish folk tales.

I must reluctantly agree with "A Customer" that this collection does not exactly shine against the rest of Schwartz's work. I should point out that I have quite the library of Judaica, including just about everything penned by Schwartz, Ginzberg, Patai, Frankel, Noy, and whomever else. This book feels like Schwartz is starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel and is resultantly coming up with tales that are--how shall I put it--dull? vapid? lackluster? trivial? Granted, one cannot always "discover" yet another several hundred breathtaking tales (one is reminded of the clever Zipes playing impresario to the dubiously prolific Gonzenbach), but I really get the impression that Schwartz just permitted his discard pile to grow until there were enough snips and snails to whip up a "book." No, feel quite free to pass on this minor entry: you won't miss it.

I couldn't stay awake through a single one of these brief folktales. The writing is absolutely leaden. The book claims that Schwartz has done a little bit of research -- though most of the stories are retold in much livelier fashion by other writers. I was looking for a book to use in a course on world folktales. It certainly won't be this brick. It would be enough to make a student drop a course.