A Treasury of Jewish Folklore [Hardcover]

Nathan Ausubel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 1989

Author of The Jewish Book of Knowledge and The Pictorial History of the Jewish People. "A must for everyone, Christians and Jews alike." --New York Times. This classic collection of more than 800 traditions, legends, parables, and songs, with a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words, has remained a favorite gift-giving item and a family treasure for decades. 12 pieces of sheet music.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA --Storytelling has been a part of Jewish tradition for over five millenia, and this collection represents the great wealth of diversity of places, cultures, and experiences within the vast geological and time variations of the Diaspora's history and the period prior to Jewish written history. Included are not only the major figures of Jewish history from the Maccabees to modern day heroes of the Holocaust, but also the wisdom of the Jewish spiritual leaders. For storytelling by students and teachers and for general reading by all, this book is unsurpassed, for it represents the best of centuries of tried and perfected stories of masters.
- Barbara Batty, Port Arthur I.S.D, TX
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Author of The Jewish Book of Knowledge and The Pictorial History of the Jewish People. "A must for everyone, Christians and Jews alike." --New York Times. This classic collection of more than 800 traditions, legends, parables, and songs, with a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words, has remained a favorite gift-giving item and a family treasure for decades. 12 pieces of sheet music.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 768 pages
• Publisher: Crown; Revised edition (January 13, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517502933
• ISBN-13: 978-0517502938
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most informative book on Jewish humor., November 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Treasury of Jewish Folklore (Hardcover)

This book has been an absolute treasure since it first came into my hands in 1950. Every life situation is depicted in this book, most often in a very humorous fashion. A great learning tool. This is to be passed on to my children and their children and their children....... (We have the 1948 edition)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dynamic source of Jewish culture, spirit, and wit, December 7, 2001

By 

Jeremy J. Shapiro (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Treasury of Jewish Folklore (Hardcover)

Like one of the other reviewers, I started reading this book when I was a child, probably around 11, and continue to read it and reread it. It has some of the most wonderful Jewish jokes that exist. The most amazing thing for me personally, however, which makes me want to recommend it to others, is that I am a person who identifies a lot with being Jewish and it feels as though a huge amount of my Jewishness, and how it has affected my thinking and way of being, comes from Ausubel's Treasure of Jewish Folklore!!! I think it is one of the most enjoyable ways that a person could immerse him/herself in the essence of Jewish culture.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to come home to, December 22, 2004

By 

K. Green - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Treasury of Jewish Folklore (A Bantam book) (Paperback)

Like many of the other reviewers, I started reading a copy of this book in my parents' library when I was very young, maybe 8 or 9. I started with the jokes and, as I grew older, graduated to the more complex stories. My favorite part was always the stories of the wonder-working rabbis, especially the Spanish rabbi who tried to bring about the coming of the Messiah.

I read this book over and over and over through my teenage years, and many years later, when I was in my 40s, I finally bought my own copy. Upon this later re-reading, I was able to recognize how internalized these stories had become, a part of my own intellectual landscape.

I'm not particularly observant, and I definitely fall into the Heritage Jew not Religious Jew category. But these stories fulfill needs for both types. There can be few better ways to explore the heritage of my people than by dipping into the stories included here. All the humor, cleverness, courage, scholarship, and mysticism associated with Jews and Judaism through the centuries--if not the millennia--may be found herein.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough for Jews, and I believe that non-Jews will find it a fascinating and accessible window into an oft-misunderstood or underestimated people.