JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling
JEWels is the first of its kind: the living tradition of Jewish stories and jokes transformed into poems, recording and reflecting Jewish experience from ancient times through the present day. In this novel hybrid—jokes and stories boiled down to their essence in short poems—Jewish witticism is preserved side by side with evocative storytelling and deepened with running commentary and questions for discussion. Illuminated here are jewels from journeys, from the Old Country, from Torah, shaped by the Holocaust, in glimpses of Jewish American lives, in Jewish foods, in conversations with God, and on the meaning of life. Jewish comedians (Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason) appear alongside writers and musicians (Elie Wiesel, Sholem Aleichem, Itzhak Perlman) and Hasidic rabbis (the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), yet most of the tellers are ordinary Jews. In this cacophony of ongoing dialogue, storytellers, rabbis, poets, and scholars chime in with interpretations, quips, and related stories and life experiences. In JEWels each of us can see our own reflection.
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JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling
JEWels is the first of its kind: the living tradition of Jewish stories and jokes transformed into poems, recording and reflecting Jewish experience from ancient times through the present day. In this novel hybrid—jokes and stories boiled down to their essence in short poems—Jewish witticism is preserved side by side with evocative storytelling and deepened with running commentary and questions for discussion. Illuminated here are jewels from journeys, from the Old Country, from Torah, shaped by the Holocaust, in glimpses of Jewish American lives, in Jewish foods, in conversations with God, and on the meaning of life. Jewish comedians (Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason) appear alongside writers and musicians (Elie Wiesel, Sholem Aleichem, Itzhak Perlman) and Hasidic rabbis (the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), yet most of the tellers are ordinary Jews. In this cacophony of ongoing dialogue, storytellers, rabbis, poets, and scholars chime in with interpretations, quips, and related stories and life experiences. In JEWels each of us can see our own reflection.
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JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling
320
by Steve Zeitlin (Editor)
Steve Zeitlin
JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling
320
by Steve Zeitlin (Editor)
Steve Zeitlin
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$29.95
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Overview
JEWels is the first of its kind: the living tradition of Jewish stories and jokes transformed into poems, recording and reflecting Jewish experience from ancient times through the present day. In this novel hybrid—jokes and stories boiled down to their essence in short poems—Jewish witticism is preserved side by side with evocative storytelling and deepened with running commentary and questions for discussion. Illuminated here are jewels from journeys, from the Old Country, from Torah, shaped by the Holocaust, in glimpses of Jewish American lives, in Jewish foods, in conversations with God, and on the meaning of life. Jewish comedians (Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason) appear alongside writers and musicians (Elie Wiesel, Sholem Aleichem, Itzhak Perlman) and Hasidic rabbis (the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), yet most of the tellers are ordinary Jews. In this cacophony of ongoing dialogue, storytellers, rabbis, poets, and scholars chime in with interpretations, quips, and related stories and life experiences. In JEWels each of us can see our own reflection.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780827615526 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The Jewish Publication Society |
| Publication date: | 02/01/2023 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Steve Zeitlin is the author or coauthor of several award-winning books on America’s folk culture, including Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling and The Poetry of Everyday Life: Storytelling and the Art of Awareness. He coproduced the storytelling series American Talkers for NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday and Morning Edition and is the recipient of the American Folklore Society’s Benjamin Botkin Award for lifetime achievement in public folklore.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction: The Ancient Living Tradition of Jewish Jokes and Stories The Parrot traditional joke retold by Zev Shanken The Face of a Human Being adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story by Rabbi Edward Schecter based on an old midrash Holocaust Jokes contemporary joke retold by Zev Shanken Excerpt from “We Tell” by Cherie Karo-Schwartz JEWels 1... in Stories Now the Story adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Stories adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story by Edgar Hilsenrath Tales lined out from an inscription in Elie Wiesel’s Souls on Fire The Lubavitcher Rebbe on Stories by Esther Cohen Burning the Scrolls adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter A Table with People by Marc Kaminsky 2. ..on a Journey Paradise adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter The Guru contemporary joke Mameloshn by Steve Zeitlin Bubba Truth adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional story retold by Jane Yolen Traveler’s Prayer by Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg 3....from the Old Country The Sabbath Fish adapted by Steve Zeitlin from Cherie Karo Schwartz’s version from Jewish folklore from Eastern Europe and Yemen, and earlier from the Babylonian Talmud The Magic Ship adapted by Steve Zeitlin from Howard Schwartz’s telling of a folktale in the Israeli Folktale Archive Tales of the Razbash by Zev Shanken The Rabbis’ Convocation traditional tale retold by Robert Bernstein The Sweeper traditional joke The Shammes: A Response adapted by Steve Zeitlin from Rabbi Edward Schecter’s retelling of “The Sweeper” Once Upon a Time in the Old Country adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale retold by Rabbi David Holtz The Hunchback traditional tale retold by Zev Shanken and Steve Zeitlin A Cold Ass adapted by Steve Zeitlin from an interview with Sylvia Cole An Offspring’s Answer adapted by Peninnah Schram and Steve Zeitlin from The Diary of Glueckel of Hameln The Cart adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a summer camp story told by Rabbi David Holtz[ Blessing the New Moon in Wintertime adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a poem by Rachel Ray Lehrer Faust The Rabbi and the Balagola traditional folktale retold by Steve Zeitlin Elijah adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story told by Amy Shuman, based on a telling by Dov Noy Parable of the Horse adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a retelling by Jack Tepper Who Said the Jews Killed Jesus? adapted by Steve Zeitlin from an oral history by Baruch Lumet The Hasid traditional joke A Nineteenth-Century Hasid Contemplates the Modern World lined out from a story about the teachings of Abraham Yaakov of Sagadora, as recounted by Martin Buber Philosophy with Noodles traditional joke retold by Peninnah Schram The Rooster Prince adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale attributed to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Publishing lined out by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional story by Rebbe Menachem-Mendel of Kotzk, as retold by Elie Wiesel Teller of Tales traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter and Marc Kaminsky The Temples Rise adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale retold by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry Conversations over Glass Tea traditional tale retold by Peninnah Schram Fresh Rolls and Butter by Zev Shanken, inspired by the I..L. Peretz short story “Bontshe Shvayg” How We Lived adapted by Steve Zeitlin and Marc Kaminsky from They Called Me Mayer July by storyteller and painter Mayer Kirshenblatt and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 4... in Jokes Pasamentrie traditional story adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a telling by Jack Tepper Telling Jokes in the Shtetl traditional joke My Mother Liked Telling Jokes by Esther Cohen Taxi traditional joke Einstein’s Theory of Relativity traditional joke Schwartz traditional joke Abe and Becky traditional joke adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a retelling by Herb Shore The Theater traditional joke adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a retelling by Herb Shore The Perfect Girl traditional joke Two Old Jews at a Urinal traditional joke Time Stamp traditional joke The Plotkin Diamond traditional joke Rich Man traditional joke Golda traditional joke retold as a clever comeback by Golda Meir The Commandments traditional joke adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a telling by Rubin Levine Perfect traditional joke retold by Peninnah Schram Toyota traditional joke Worry traditional tale The Summum Bonum traditional joke adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a retelling by Abe Lass Zoom by Marc Wallace Self-Critique by Sparrow Jewish Mother Telegram traditional joke retold by Zev Shanken A Freudian Analysis attributed to, among others, Julia Sweeney, who wrote a book with this title How Many Jewish Mothers traditional joke Twenty Years traditional joke Seven Differences between a Joke and a Poem by Zev Shanken Optimism/Pessimism traditional joke 5... from Torah The Tsimtsum by Rabbi Edward Schecter Rabbi Simon Said adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a midrash in the name of Rabbi Simon Jacobson Hillel and Shammai traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter What I Would Tell Adam and Eve by Francine Witte The Original Adam and Eve adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story in Howard Schwartz’s Tree of Souls The Birth of Memory by Steve Zeitlin Enough! contemporary tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter The Razbash Describes God’s Test by Zev Shanken The Prophet traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter Moses and the Superhero by Jack Santino Rabbi Hayam Vital Dreams of Moses adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional story in Howard Schwartz’s Tree of Souls Miriam’s Wandering Well adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional story Lamb’s Blood by Steve Zeitlin A Rabbinical Love Poem by Zev Shanken Twelve Rabbis Went to a Party by Annie Lanzillotto The Lamed Vavniks by Arthur Strimling 6... shaped by the Holocaust Tickling the Corpse by Steve Zeitlin Holocaust Jokes contemporary joke retold by Zev Shanken It is Raining on the House of Anne Frank by Linda Pastan Riding with the Moon adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a true story by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry The Last Supper at the Krakow Ghetto Uprising adapted by Steve Zeitlin from oral testimonies by survivors of the Krakow ghetto uprising Hovering above the Pit adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale retold by Yaffa Eliach In the Janowska Street Ghetto adapted by Marc Kaminsky from a story retold by Yaffa Eliach The Twig adapted by Steve Zeitlin from Renée Fodor Schwarz’s memoir Renée In Memory of Those Who Died in Vain in the Holocaust excerpted from a poem by Renée Fodor Schwarz Forgotten Acts of Courage adapted by Steve Zeitlin and Marc Kaminsky from Alex Borstein’s acceptance speech upon winning a 2019 Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy for her portrayal of Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Rachel by Linda Pastan Death Train lined out from André Schwartz-Bart’s Last of the Just Kaddish in the Boxcar of Death by Aaron Zeitlin, translated by Morris M. Faierstein Face in the Mirror adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a true story by Toby Blum-Dobkin 7 ...in Glimpses of Jewish American Lives Rummage by Marc Kaminsky Yiddishe Mama during World War II lined out from the essay “The Healing Power of Jokes” by Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman Plucking the Chicken adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional joke retold by Abe Lass Getting Dressed by Steve Zeitlin No More Birthdays by Hal Sirowitz A Short History of Judaic Thought in the Twentieth Century by Linda Pastan At a Bungalow in the Rockaways traditional joke Tradition! traditional joke Jewish and Goyish adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a Lenny Bruce routine The Great Trick Is To Know Who You Are lined out from Jackie Mason’s Broadway show, The World According to Me Skin Check by Esther Cohen It Reminds Me of That Old Joke traditional joke The Rabbi by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Reflection by Zev Shanken True Life by Carol Klenfner To Kvell or Not to Kvell adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional joke retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter The Free Yarmulke Bin by Steve Zeitlin The Kiss by Mark Solomon The Driver Said by Robert Hershon Clara by Steve Zeitlin Alicia by Steve Zeitlin Sally adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a true story told by Anita Nager Moishe Said adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story by Jack Kugelmass Abraham Joshua Selma Goes to Selma by Steve Zeitlin, quoting Abraham Joshua Heschel 8 .. .in Jewish Foods The Bagel by David Ignatow The Fish by Lila Zeiger Happiness lined out from a recollection by Moishe Sacks A Jewish Blessing Sung When Placing the Bread in the Oven anonymous The Athiest by Steve Zeitlin The Jews and Chinese Food traditional joke The Jewish Waiter traditional joke The Strudel traditional joke Aging Parents by Marc Wallace The Schtup adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale by Lisa Lipkin Fresh Fish Sold Here traditional joke retold by Cherie Karo Schwartz How to Make Blintzes traditional joke retold by Cherie Karo Schwartz 2nd Ave. Kosher by Dennis J. Bernstein and Warren Lehrer Excerpt from “The Whole Soul” by Philip Levine 9... in Conversations with God The Messiah #1 lined out from Michael Gold’s Jews without Money The Messiah #2 traditional joke Closer by Aaron Zeitlin, translated by Morris M. Faierstein Wrestling with God by Bob Mankoff Somebody Up There Likes Me traditional joke retold by Bob Mankoff It’s All Relative traditional joke retold by Peninnah Schram Tevye the Milkman Said lined out from the story “Tevye Strikes It Rich” by Sholem Aleichem My Aunt’s Ninetieth Birthday adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a quip by Ann Katz during one of his talks on Jewish humor The Tailor’s Prayer traditional tale A Pair of Pants traditional tale The Do-Over by Steve Zeitlin, inspired by a conversation with Richard Rabinowitz The DNA in My Coffee—A True Story adapted by Steve Zeitlin from the story “God and DNA over Coffee” by Lisa Lipkin Deconstructing Heaven adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a tale retold by Rabbi Avraham Weiss Levi Yitzhak Burns the Evidence traditional tale Six Lines by Aaron Zeitlin, translated from the Yiddish by Robert Friend To the Rescue traditional joke Lifeline traditional tale 10...on the Meaning of Life The Meaning of Meaning by Bob Holman Who Knows? adapted by Flash Rosenberg from one of her father’s favorite jokes Hineni by Flash Rosenberg The Angel of Death adapted by Steve Zeitlin from an essentially true story in Howard Schwartz’s Tree of Souls The Land adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional story If Not Higher! adapted by Steve Zeitlin from the short story “If Not Higher!” by I. L. Peretz Time All at Once adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a story by Caroline Harris Soul Sight adapted by Marc Kaminsky and Steve Zeitlin from Howard Schwartz’s Tree of Souls The Burning Twig adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale retold by Robert Bernstein Oy lined out from a spontaneous observation by Eli Levine The Philosopher traditional joke Life traditional joke The Razbash on Old Age by Zev Shanken Doctor, Doctor adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional joke retold by Doris Kirshenblatt[ Yizkor by Zev Shanken The Razbash on Forgiveness by Zev Shanken The Womb traditional story retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter Moishe’s Wisdom lined out from Moishe Sacks’s comments in a 1993 documentary The Angel of Forgetfulness lined out from Dara Horn’s novel The World to Come The Laughing Man lined out from Elie Wiesel’s Souls on Fire, based on writings attributed to Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Wiesel’s Response lined out from Elie Wiesel’s Souls on Fire The Fiftieth Gate lined out from a passage by Rabbi Boruch of Medzhybizh, as recounted by Martin Buber Whitewater Rapids adapted by Marc Kaminsky and Steve Zeitlin from the story “Whitewater” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi The Ring adapted by Marc Kaminsky and Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale The Beautiful Question traditional story retold by Steve Zeitlin Lost in the Woods traditional story retold by Peninnah Schram Shmuel Discovers a Purpose in Life traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter Coda traditional tale retold by Rabbi Edward Schecter Concerto adapted by Steve Zeitlin from a traditional tale retold by Rabbi Eli Rubenstein Final Thoughts Commentator Biographies Questions for Discussion Notes Bibliography Source Notes IndexFrom the B&N Reads Blog
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