Reading Notes Week 4: Jewish Fairy Tales B

Jewish Fairy Tales B

The Hundred Year Sleep

• Rabbi Onias took his camel and road towards the newly destroyed First Temple of Jerusalem
• He was tired and hungry from lack of sleep. He had water and plenty of dates but did not drink them in case he met someone who needed it more
• he met a man near the end of his journey who was planting a carob tree. man explained that  the Chaldeans had destroyed his vineyard and he is starting over again
• Onias climbed a hill seeing the destruction and threw himself down and sobbed, seeing no human left saying that not even in 100 years could the beauty be renewed.
• He then laid on his camel and fell asleep. Days, weeks, months, and then years went on until a hundred years had passed, vegetation growing him and hiding him, one of his own dates even grew into a tree
• when he awoke he was confused and thought maybe he had dreamed the destruction of Jerusalem but then he saw his beard white and trailing the ground. he could not find his camel but then he sat on the ground which collapsed into a pile of bones beneath him but his dates and water are fresh
• he leaves the shaded area and approaches the city asking for the place of Rabbi Onias but no one knows of that name and make fun of his attire and outdated speech which he is confused of
• finally someone says that there is an Onais who claims he was named after his grandfather who went missing 100 years prior. They then both agree that he seems to have slept for that long
• they led him indoors and showed him the restored Jerusalem yet still teased that he spoke of things that were long gone and behaved the way he did
• one day he asked his grandson to take him back to the shaded area so that he may sleep again feeling he does not belong, he does so  bringing the still fresh dates and water but does not awake in this world

King for 3 Days

• godfrey de bouillon was a famous warrior during the crusades he hated the Jews and massacred large number of Jews
• even though he hated Jews he sought the blessing of a rabbi named Solomon Ben Isaac or Rabbi Rashi
• Rashi says blessings are not given by man kind but by the heavens upon worthy people upon which godfrey protests saying holy men can and threatened Rashi
• Rashi was not afraid and said he cannot make a claim of God on behalf of someone who wants to destroy all Jews
• Godfrey was angry but stopped for fear the Rabbi would curse him and instead asked to see the future whether he succeeds or fails in his quest
• Rashi says both, godfrey demands explanation and Rashi says he will be defeat jerusalem and be its king, godfrey claims it is a blessing after all, Rashi isn't finished. he also says he will only rule for 3 days
• Godfrey asks if he will return after those days, Rashi says not with an army only 3 horses and 3 men
• this angers godfrey and he claims the rabbi is just trying to scare him and tells him if he is king for more than what rabbi said or returns with more than just 3 men and 3 horses then he will kill him for being a false prophet
• Godfrey conquered Jerusalem and was named king, after 2 days he decided he would rather be a duke and live in Europe instead then remembered what the Rabbi said. He then continued to battle until his army was thin then returned to the rabbi with 4 men and horses to prove him wrong 
• when he entered the gate to the City of Worms a stone fell from the wall and crushed one of his men and horse. this visit then turned into a congratulations for the rabbi for being right
• in Brussels there is a statue Godfrey in the Place Royale but in the City of Worms the gate to the city is the Rashi gate said to be the same one that Godfrey passed through

The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace

• Abraham's wife Sarah was super beautiful and he worried that the Egyptians would take her to Pharaoh's harem so he kept her in a box
• when arriving in Egypt, customs officers asked what was in the box and he said barley, and they said of course you say that because its the lowest tax so it must be wheat. Abraham says he will pay the wheat tax and they say since he is so ready to do that the box must have something with a higher tax like spices and he agrees to pay that then it goes on through gold and then precious gems 
• they eventually open the box for fear it contains something dangerous and they say" a precious gem indeed" and take Sarah to pharaoh
• king of Egypt thinks she is pretty but is put off by Abraham's presence and asks Sarah who he is and she says it is her brother for fear Abraham would be killed otherwise
• Pharaoh was then happy and said he had a beautiful sister and would reward him for his loss. Abraham agrees to not arise suspicion and assures Sarah God will help them.
• he then agrees to gold and silver and jewels and sheep, oxen, and camels. he was led to a palace where slaves attended to him but the slaves liked Abraham who just decided to pray
• Sarah was taken to an apartment where the queens own slaves were ordered to dress her in royal garments and taken back to the Pharaoh who wanted to  be alone with her.
• Sarah was uncomfortable because she found the Pharaoh ugly, to ease her the Pharaoh says he means no harm and will grant any request
• she asks to leave with her brother and Pharaoh thinks she is joking and moves toward her and she demands he stop or else but she stops and is staring behind the Pharaoh.
• behind him was a  spirit clutching a large stick. and Pharaoh says to stop being silly bc he cant hurt someone like her but it isn't a good idea to threaten the ruler. 
• Sarah was no longer scared and new her and her husband's prayers were answered, Pharaoh then advanced on her and he received a blow to the head and was stunned but could see nothing  and he did it again but this time hit on the shoulder and assumed he suffered some illness and tried to play it off like he lost his thought and tackled Sarah and got on top of her
• Sarah said if he touches her he will be in peril and he angrily goes to smack her when the spirit knocked him on the hand and it went pale and he couldn't move it.
• Pharaoh accuses her of being a witch and angrily Sarah looks at the spirit giving it a sign and it then beat the king's head and shoulders. he then apologizes saying he does not mean what he says and that he is ill and his arm paralyzed
• spirit releases Pharaoh who is now bruised and lets Sarah leave and he will come back tomorrow but Sarah is no longer scared
• the spirit tormented Pharaoh all night, tilted him out of bed over and over and did the same to chairs and couches but when asking others to do so to test it out the beds were fine. he was lifted and flipped on his head and spun around
• physicians and magicians could do nothing even walls seemed to make efforts to bump into him, stairs took him down when he wanted to go up and up when he wanted to go down and woke up with leprosy
• he sent for Abraham and demands to know who and what he and says he will bestow riches on him but to take his sister and leave, he wanted her for his queen but not now
• Abraham heals him with a magic jewel and reveals that Sarah is actually his wife and that if at any time Pharaoh's descendants persecute Abraham's descendants then his God will punish the king with plague again
• sure enough this does happen later on with Moses.

The Rabbi's Bogey-Man

• Rabbi lion sat in his study looking over the Ghetto in ancient prague
• River of Moldau Jewish quarter srrounds the cemetary which is still here and the tomb of Rabbi Lion
• the spires of the city were beyond the JEwish quarter and it was not the cruelty of those people but the fact he couldn't find a servant, not even someone to just tend the fire on the sabbath for him.
• really people were just scared of him because the thought his science experiments were magic and he was summoning demons and witches
• he was like "if i really am a magician like they say why dont i make my own servant"
• he crafted a strong laboring mechanical woman and wrote the unpronouncable sacred name of God on a piece of paper and put it into the mouth of the creature upon which its sprang to life and began walking all over the place almost going out of the window and decided he must learn to use it properly
• people were amazed at the mechanical woman rnning errands for Rabbi only controlled with his thoughts and she could do anything but talk
• Rabbi also removes the parchment from her mouth while he sleeps so she cannot cause trouble
• one day while Rabbi was preaching sabbath some children asked with mechanical woman to play she obliged and when children asked for a fire she made one because she was made to follow orders, except she kept making it bigger and bigger until it caught a house and worried the whole town
• the woman could not be found and they only new she was destroyed because in the ashes they found the sacred Name
• King Rudolf  summoned Rabbi and said it was a sin to make a living creature. Rabbi said it had no life but whatever the Sacred Name gave it
• Rudolf demanded Rabbi show proof of this by building another while imprisoned and if it works he is free and if not he will be killed and the Jews exiled from the city
• Rabbi made the creature again in the image of a man bigger than the woman before and noted it is just wood and springs but when he puts the name in the mouth it rose to life and greeted the king who demanded it for himself
• Rabbi said no because he wants to make sure it causes no trouble and will not use it on the sabbath. the king saw reason in this and lwt him go. The Jews were all in wonder but the children feared him and called him Bogey-Man
• the creature became smarter each day and one day even spoke telling the Rabbi he wishes to be a soldier for the King since he was made for him. Rabbi told him no and made note not to let the machine become in charge because it would destroy him and likely all the Jews
• Rabbi wondered if the King was right in that it is a Sin to create a man. The creature became disobedient and surly but it was still useful and did all of his chores in a third of the time.
• one day Tabbi was alerted to people saying the bogey-man is trying to get into the synagogue and when asked why it responded it wanted to destroy scrolls of the Holy Law and will make an army of bogey men and fight for the king and kill all the Jews. but Rabbi said he would kill it first
• Rabbi sprung forth and grabbed the name fro its mouth and it collapsed to a pile of garbage 

The Fairy Frog

• Hanina was son of wealthy and learned man and was called home after he was grown and married because bothparents were sick. the father said not to be too sad because he and his wife were lucky to have so many years together and to depart together
• he asks his son to grieve the standard 7 days which will end the evening before passover, and asks only tht on that day he purchase the first thing offered to him no matter what it is or what the cost and it will bring them fortune
• the father and mother die and are buried together on the same day. a week passes and son goes to the market and is offered a small silver contents for 1000 gold and its contents unknown as it will open on passover. he purchases it even though it costs nearly everything
• The casket opens on passover revealing a frog, even though she is disappointed Hanina's wife feeds the frog who grows huge. Hanina builds a shelf for it and then a shed all while they grew gradually more poor
• it was not until they were in such state of poverty and the frog was bigger than a man that Hanina's wife finally broke down in tears
• the frog then asks what she needs and he will grant it since they have treated him well, she asks for food and sure enough a basket of food is delivered moments later
• he asks Hanina what he wants and Hanina asks to be taught the lore of men since a talking frog must be wise
• frog writes down the Law in the 70 known languages on strips of paper and has Hanina swallow them and sure enough he then knew everything even the language of animals and was regarded as the wisest sage
• one day the frog says the day has arrived for me to repay your kindness and takes them to the woods which is quite a goofy site. he then calls upon all the animals of the forest to bring forth jewels and herbs and roots from the ground, the do so and make a pile by the feet of Hanina and his wife.
• Frog says the herbs are just as valuable as the jewels because they can cure any disease
• they thanked the frog and asked who he is 
• he then says he is the fairy son of adam who can take any form and then shrinks to the size of a regular frog 

Pepe the Frog

I decided to add Pepe because who doesn't love a good frog meme to go with The Fairy Frog
Source

Bibliography

Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends, Gertrude Landa Text Source