Elijah's Violin and Other Jewish Fairy Tales

by Howard Schwartz, Linda Heller

With this collection, Howard Schwartz retells 36 Jewish fairy tales that are at once otherworldly and earthy, pious and playful. Drawn from sources as diverse as Morocco and India, Spain and Eastern Europe, Babylon and Egypt, the stories are characterized by their infusion of traditional Jewish characters with the archetypal forms found in all fairy tales, or by their treatment of Jewish religious themes. The book combines the playfulness of fairy tales with the author's depth of knowledge of the historical origins of the tales. Throughout one can find the quests and riddles of the traditional fairy tale along with the divine intervention that characterizes the Jewish fairy tale.

Genres: Jewish, Judaism, Fiction, Folklore, Fantasy, Religion, Short Stories

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Howard Schwartz is Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a prolific writer who has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In searching for themes and images for his work in various genres, he has often found his inspiration in biblical, midrashic, and kabbalistic lore. Many of his works retell ancient folktales, reflecting his belief in the importance of passing cultural lore from one generation to the next. His poetry frequently reflects the dreamlike and mysterious elements of Jewish mythology.

Reviews

[Elyse Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I utilized a lot of Howard Schwartz's books when writing my novel, The Book of Uriel. He is hands down the master of Jewish folklore and fairytales. I really would recommend all of his books, but my favorites and the ones I use most often in my own writing as resources are this one, Elijah's Violin, and Lilith's Cave. If you have even a passing interest in folklore and want to take a crack at Jewish folklore, those two are the ones I would recommend first and foremost, followed by...well, all the rest. One small caveat is that if you do, like me, buy all the books and read all of them you will see some stories repeat with a few variations, but that's the nature of folklore (just look at how many different versions of Red Riding Hood exist). But the unique stories you find are worth the few repeats here and there. Give them a read!

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of tales. From oral collection, and also from manuscript versions -- many of those, predating the Brothers Grimms, are pious tales. Several, the king is King Solomon or King David. Still, for most of them are distinctly fairy tales.

The title story, for instance, is a variant of the same tale type as The Feather of Finist the Falcon. We also have Donkey Cabbages, the Golden Bird, the Horse of Power, and more. (You have to know your tales -- its appendix only compares two of them to Rapunzel and Cinderella, and the later is actually more like Love Like Salt.)

An interesting collection with a number of unique takes on the types.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of Jewish lore.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved it.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rich, engrossing, and satisfying compilation of fairy tales derived from Jewish oral traditions and written sources throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe, going back several hundred years. Like fairy tales from Western Europe, these feature childless kings and queens, marriageable princesses, talking animals and magic spells, rich princes and poor tailors, and quests both voluntarily chosen and imposed on pain of death.

What's much more interesting, intriguing, and delightful, however, are the many ways they are unlike. For one thing, there are plenty of demons in these tales (including Asmodeus, the king of demons), and demons are not a thing you find in stories from France, England, Germany, etc. Conversely, there are no wicked stepmothers and no dragons. For another, the antagonists who cast evil spells are nearly all male -- sorcerors or malicious ministers or enemy kings -- rather than female (cruel stepmothers, evil fairies, wicked witches, etc.). (I wonder, does this suggest there is a different view of women in the Jewish tradition vs the Christian tradition?) For a third, many of the stories explicitly reference the insecure status of Jews and the ease with which they can be persecuted; i.e., a king faced with an insoluble problem rounds up the leaders of the Jewish community and demands that they solve it, or else all the Jews in the kingdom will be killed. More than once I thought of Tevye's plaintive words in Fiddler on the Roof: "I know, I know, we are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?" Finally, the stories often include biblical characters or locations -- Elijah, Solomon, Rabbi Adam, the Garden of Eden, and so on. Despite Western Europe being almost ferociously Christian, its fairy tales have very few religious elements, which is kind of odd now that I think about it.

In short, an excellent and wide-ranging collection that will be eye-opening to anyone who has only known Grimm, Perrault, and Andersen. Two thumbs up.

[Ruthie Planamenta · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of fairytales, with a great intro at the beginning. Plenty of silly, sober, and profound work enclosed in these bite-sized tales. While reading, I constantly had to stop to show things to my husband. What I liked most was the distinct attention paid to the Law and oaths of any kind—those who keep their word and follow God Commands are blessed, though they may suffer for a time.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read. I especially liked the Asmodeus, Solomon and Nachman stories. I had read this a very long time ago and I greatly enjoyed returning to these stories

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is a varied collection of Jewish fairy tales as far as origins and time periods go, it isn't hugely varied as far as themes. It was entertaining and may be a good read-aloud with older children (8+ would be my guess, and well into teen years), but if you're looking for something slightly more scholarly (as in: I picked this one due to the Oxford University Press publisher, hoping for good origin footnotes or commentary), look elsewhere. OK for what it is, not great.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other editions of this book use the words "fairy tales" rather than "folktales," and I think that might be a better description of what this book contains. It actually seemed a bit strange to me to read about Bible heroes like Solomon in stories where magical things happen. I found them vaguely interesting at first, but they gradually began to seem very repetitive, and I decided I didn't really care about reading all of them.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading this before bed. Sure some of it isn't the most descriptive escapism language but for how long they've been passed down I'm glad to have them available. Some of the stories are very ancient. I can imagine they would make very fine movie plots both live action and cartoon.

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read alouds - a family favorite.

[Courtney]

Used for research. Unlike other collected folktale volumes, this one spans multiple countries so the stories are widely varied and many have an "Arabian Nights" feel to them.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what says on tin. :)