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Because God Loves Stories Steve Zeitlin

Because God Loves Stories By Steve Zeitlin

Because God Loves Stories by Steve Zeitlin


$22.99
Condition - Very Good
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Summary

Ancient folktales are retold, new stories reflect centuries-old tradition--35storytellers spin tales that capture and illuminate Jewish culture throughoutthe ages.

Because God Loves Stories Summary

Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling by Steve Zeitlin

An exciting new treasury of Jewish stories and storytellers, from ancient tales and classics re-imagined to contemporary family stories, parables, and humor
"Why were human beings created?" goes a traditional Jewish saying. "Because God loves stories." Storytelling has been part of Jewish religion and custom from earliest times and it remains a defining aspect of Jewish life. In Because God Loves Stories, folklorist Steve Zeitlin assembles the work of thirty-six Jewish storytellers, each of whom spins tales that express his or her own distinctive visions of Jewish culture. Contemporary storytellers re-interpret stories from the Talmud for modern sensibilities, the Grand Rabbi of Bluzhov tells tales of the Holocaust, beloved comedian Sam Levenson regales readers with hilarious vignettes of Jewish life in America, and much more.

Because God Loves Stories Reviews

Leonard Nimoy In Because god Loves Stories, I recognize actors I performed with on the Jewish stages, the parents and people I grew up with, and a few of the shlemiels I've come across...I don't know how I ever did without it.
Jimmy Neil Smith Founder and Executive Director of the National Storytelling Association A Superb contribution to Jewish folklore. From stories that re-create the lost world of the Easter European Jewish shtetl to a selection of Ladino-inflected pieces from Sephardic Jews, Because God Loves Stories brings to vivid life the role of storytelling both as entertainment and as a way of re-invigorating a precious tradition.

About Steve Zeitlin

Steve Zeitlin received his Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the director and co-founder of City Lore: The New York Center for Urban Folk Culture and a regular commentator for National Public Radio. Zeitlin is the co-author of several books, including A Celebration of American Family Folklore. He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Table of Contents


Table of Contents

Introduction

I. ANCIENT TIMES IN CONTEMPORARY TALES

Nina Jaffe

The Most Precious Thing

Syd Lieberman

Challahs in the Ark

Cherie Karo Schwartz

Elijah and the Poor Man's Wish

Merit of the Sabbath

Joseph Elias

The Sound of Work

The Talking Mule


Rabbi Edward Schecter

Isaac's Bar Mitzvah

II. THE SHTETL

A. The Shtetl in Folktale

Eve Penner Ilsen

A Tale of Reb Nakhum Chernobler and a Tikkun

Rabbi Edward Schecter

The Teller of Tales

Levi Yitchak Burns the Evidence


Syd Lieberman, Steve Sanfield

The Founding Fathers

A Chelm Medley


Michael Wex

The Kugel

Corey Fischer

The Golem Haunts the Cemetery in Prague

B. The Shtetl in Family Stories

Rita Fecher


The Day My Great-Grandmother Died

Peninnah Schram

The Czar's Army

The Czarina's Dress


Henry Sapoznik

Tants! Tants! Yiddish Music in the Old Country

Matilda Friedman

Think for Yourself

Marc Kaminsky

My Grandmother's Family Tales

III. THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

Roslyn Bresnick-Perry


Leaving for America

A Real American Girl

My First Thanksgiving


Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

From Immigrant to Ethnic in a Family's Tales

Ruth Rubin

Grandmother Elke: Next Year in Jerusalem

Rosa Kuinova

The Refusenik

IV. THE LOWER EAST SIDE AND BEYOND

A. Tenement Life

Sam Levenson


The Tax Man in the Tailor Shop

Crucifixion


Gus Tyler

"The Strike of the Schnorrers" Revisited

Jack Tepper

Pazamentry

Shirlee Kresh Hecker

Papa's Sukkah

Ike the Pike


Hank Halio

A Jew Who Don't Speak Yiddish:

Ashkenazi/Sephardic Cultural Differences


B. The American South

Solomon Blatt


What Mr. Blatt Can't Eat

C. The Catskills

Joey Adams


The Kokhaleyn

The Tumler

D. Yiddish Theater

Baruch Lumet


Plotting to Kill Harry

Zypora Spaisman

The Lonesome Ship

E. Jewish Summer Camps

Rabbi David Holtz


Water and Wine

V. THE HOLOCAUST

A. Folk and Hasidic Tales

Rabbi Israel Spira/Yaffa Eliach


Even the Transgressors in Israel

Circumcision

Hovering above the Pit


Nina Jaffe and Steve Zeitlin

In Your Hands

Sam Levenson

The Wand

B. Bitter Memories

Melvin Katz


Only the Small Survive

Typhus

Pretending to Work

The Cigarette

New Barracks

Liberation

A Bowl of Soup


Lisa Lipkin

What My Mother Never Told Me:

Reminiscences of a Child of a Holocaust Survivor


Barbara Myerhoff

The Shoebox

Roslyn Bresnick-Perry

Going Home to Nowhere

VI. HUMOR IN CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LIFE

Moshe Waldoks


The Health Club

Steve Zeitlin

Jewish Laughter, God's Sense of Humor

VII. MEANINGS AND REFLECTIONS

Shelley Brenner


Ezekiel's Wheel

Steve Zeitlin

A Penchant for Parable

Rabbi Tsvi Blanchard

The Healing Power of Jewish Stories

Source Notes

Additional information

GOR004337137
9780684811758
0684811758
Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling by Steve Zeitlin
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Simon & Schuster
1997-04-01
304
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Because God Loves Stories