A Treasury of Jewish Folklore

by Nathan Ausubel

Book by

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Folklore, Fiction, Religion, Judaica, Mythology

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Nathan Ausubel (June 15, 1898 - November, 1986) was an American historian, folklorist and humorist. He specialized in Jewish culture. Wikipedia

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go-to book when I'm having trouble sleeping. Short funny stories told in a tender, wry, eccentric style. The humor is wise and life-affirming, and gives me peace of mind.

[Carrie O'Dell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book while I was dramaturging "The Dybbuk" and it was more than just a great resource for research, it's just a wonderful read. Features sections on the supernatural, humor, the Holocaust, and even has folk songs.

[Janis Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up on this book, and it still rocks. A fabulous present for any kid interested in Jewish culture and story telling.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's what you call a treasury alright.

[Kbord · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy folklore. I've read of European, Asian, and Native American folklore. I'd never seen or considered Jewish folklore before seeing this book on the local library shelf.

The book is as thick as my thumb is long. It looks daunting, but the chapters are very logically split up into subgenres, such that the stories themselves are quite accessible. I also appreciated very much the glossary at the end of the book: some concepts are not readily understood within the context of their stories to me, coming from outside of the culture. The glossary does a good job of defining Yiddish or other phrases (printed in italics within the stories). Also, the introductions to each chapter do a good job of explaining concepts that outsiders would not inherently understand.

The stories are witty, funny, or moralistic. They make fun of themselves, expose hypocrisies, keep memories of bravery, teach wisdom, etc.

I didn't get through the whole book, but I had fun with the parts that I read.

[Jamie Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rating is a purely subjective one. I am a long way from having read all of this book and am in no hurry to finish it. But as a compendium of the history, folklore, and above all the humor of my people, it is a book I mean to treasure always.

[Risa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad's old copy, possibly given to him for his Bar Mitzvah.

I love the jokes section although the rest of it alternates between dry and hilarious

[Shaynipper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had a curiosity regarding all things Jewish since I was a young teenager. This gave me more insights to the ethnic and religious culture of Judaism. I basically read this as a daily devotional/meditation which is why it took so long to savor.

[Tal Heyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book because I read about all of the people that I learned about in school. The short stories were also really funny and had life quotes/morals in them.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing stories and wisdom, but the introductions are dense and some stories could use a more modern writing style.

[Winter Reading Program]

So many great jokes! And moving stories

[Lisa Feld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary compendium of Hasidic tales, Jewish jokes, biblical and Talmudic legends, and even music, organized by topic. It’s particularly useful to me as a rabbi, looking for stories to tell kids or weave into my sermons, but I think anyone who wants an infinite supply of Jewish storytelling and humor would get a lot out of this volume.

[Daniel A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

When the Goodreads synopsis staff called A Treasury of Jewish Folklore, edited by late Jewish folklorist Nathan Ausubel, "a favorite gift-giving item" and a "family treasure", they really weren't kidding, as I can't imagine buying this book for myself, on my own. In fact, I got it for my bar mitzvah 23-1/2 years ago, and now I know why I never cracked it open in all this time. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore (full subtitle Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, Wisdom and Folk Songs of the Jewish People) was originally published around 1948, and doesn't look to have been revised much, if at all, in the intervening 40-odd years before I got a new printing for my "gift". (Needless to say, I don't talk to the gifters much.)

Part of the appeal of a collection of folklore is its humanity, its sense of wonder, as folklorist Howard Schwartz, compiler of the far superior—and entertaining—Elijah's Violin and Other Jewish Fairy Tales and Miriam's Tambourine understands. A collection of folklore must be compelling, lively, and fun, where A Treasury of Jewish Folklore is staid, dry, and academic. The titular emphasis is on the "treasury", not the "folklore", and that's a problem. Moreover, too many of the tales and anecdotes recounted by Ausubel feel right out of the shtetl, whether they come from Sephardi communities, the Talmudic era, or the colonial United States; these stories are timeless, but not in a positive way, at least for me.

The next book in my project is Ausubel's primary companion volume, published in the 1950s and never reprinted, called A Treasury of Jewish Humor. After A Treasury of Jewish Folklore, I'm not particularly optimistic.

[S. Sigerson]

This book is a real treasure. Priceless.

It includes history, biographies, anecdotes from the lives of historical personages, a thousand folktales on every theme, from the comical to the sublime. As well as songs and Biblical apocrypha.

It's a window into a vanished world of the Jewish community: its thoughts, wit, wisdom; its mysticism, humour, daily life, patient suffering and fierce determination to survive.