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When one comes to collect legends of the Hebrews and Jews from the many diverse strata of our literature, one must be armed with all the secrets of the schools and fruits of visionary…
This is no fairy tale, it really happened.
In our shtetl, there was a bright young man named Móyshele. He was as smart as a whip, and also a good-for-nothing. Then all at once he disappeared, and no…
Amulets were crafted to protect pregnant women and newborn children from the powers of the evil Lilith, Adam’s mythical first wife. Mystical texts surround this image, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and…
Paper cuts have been a tradition of Jewish folk art, with the earliest record of one dating to the fourteenth century. Given the widespread availability of paper in Europe by the mid-nineteenth…
This unusual heart-shaped amulet from Morocco is inscribed with the words “God Almighty,” followed by the priestly blessing (Numbers 6:24–26) and an individualized text: “May God give him life and…
“What you spend in honor of the holy days, the Lord will richly reward!” says the Talmud, and pious Pinchas granted everything his wife demanded. Clothes for the children and ornaments for herself…
Before Talpiot was built the King of the Winds used to rule over the entire region: and all his ministers and servants, mighty and stubborn winds, dwelled there with him and blew over mountain and…
But the distant lulls were merely the frame of the picture; the feast for Joseph’s eyes was the green Valley of Jezreel itself, the cradle of the Communes. Twenty years ago a desolate marsh cursed…
For Years I Wallowed
For years I wallowed about in the world,
Now I’m going home to wallow there.
With a pair of shoes and the shirt on my back,
And the stick in my hand that goes with me everywhere…
The [bram]ble sent a message to the pomegranate as follows: “Dear Pomegranate, what good are all [your] thorns [to him who tou]ches your [fru]it?” The [pome] granate replied to the bramble, “You are…