Bücher der Reihe Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology

Translated into English for the first time from Hebrew, this bok analyses how food and foodways are the major agents generating the plots of several significant folktales. The tales were chosen from the Israel Folktales Archives' (IFA) extensive collection of twenty-five thousand tales.

An unconventional memoir-an integrated collection of short stories and personal essays. Augusto Segre begins his book with stories shaped from the oral narratives of his home community as it emerged from the ghetto era, continues with his own experiences under fascism and as a partisan in WWII, and ends with his emigration to Israel.

Examination the legends of origin of the Jews of Poland and discloses how the community is created.

In the thirteenth century, an anonymous scribe compiled sixty-nine tales that became Sefer ha-ma'asim, the earliest compilation of Hebrew tales known to us in Western Europe. The author writes that the stories encompass "e;descriptions of herbs that cure leprosy, a fairy princess with golden tresses using magic charms to heal her lover's wounds and restore him to life; a fire-breathing dragon . . . a two-headed creature and a giant's daughter for whom the rind of a watermelon containing twelve spies is no more than a speck of dust."e; In Tales in Context: Sefer ha-ma'asim in Medieval Northern France, Rella Kushelevsky enlightens the stories' meanings and reflects the circumstances and environment for Jewish lives in medieval France. Although a selection of tales was previously published, this is the first publication of a Hebrew-English annotated edition in its entirety, revealing fresh insight. The first part of Kushelevsky's work, "e;Cultural, Literary and Comparative Perspectives,"e; presents the thesis that Sefer ha-ma'asim is a product of its time and place, and should therefore be studied within its literary and cultural surroundings, Jewish and vernacular, in northern France. An investigation of the scribe's techniques in reworking his Jewish and non-Jewish sources into a medieval discourse supports this claim. The second part of the manuscript consists of the tales themselves, in Hebrew and English translation, including brief comparative comments or citations. The third part, "e;An Analytical and Comparative Overview,"e; offers an analysis of each tale as an individual unit, contextualized within its medieval framework and against the background of its parallels. Elisheva Baumgarten's epilogue adds social and historical background to Sefer ha-ma'asim and discusses new ways in which it and other story compilations may be used by historians for an inquiry into the everyday life of medieval Jews. The tales in Sefer ha-ma'asim will be of special value to scholars of folklore and medieval European history and literature, as well as those looking to enrich their studies and shelves.

In 1839, Muslims attacked the Jews of Meshhed, murdering 36 of them, and forcing the conversion of the rest. While some managed to escape across the Afghan border, and some turned into true believing Muslims, the majority adopted Islam only outwardly, while secretly adhering to their Jewish faith. Jadid al-Islam is the fascinating story of how this community managed to survive, at the risk of their lives, as crypto-Jews in an inimical Shi'i Muslim environment. Based on unpublished original Persian sources and interviews with members of the existing Meshhed community in Jerusalem and New York, this study documents the history, traditions, tales, customs, and institutions of the Jadid al-Islam-"e;New Muslims."e;

This fascinating case study describes the work of the people responsible for creating festive lore and its system of ceremonies and festivities-an inseparable part of every culture. In the case of the new modern Hebrew culture of Eretz Israel (modern Jewish Palestine)-a society of immigrants that left behind most of their traditional folkways-the creation of festival lore was a conscious and organized process guided by a national ideology and aesthetic values. This creative effort in a secular national society served as an alternative to the traditional religious system, adapted the ceremonies and festivals to a new historical reality, and created a new festival cycle that would give expression and joy to the values and symbols of the new Jewish society.Staging and Stagers in Modern Jewish Palestine claims that the system of ceremonies and festivals, in general, and each separate ceremony and festival were staged according to the staging instructions written by a defined group of cultural activists. The book examines three main stages-the educational network, rural society (particularly the cooperative sector), and urban society (most notably Tel Aviv)-and looks at the stagers themselves, who were schoolteachers, writers, artists, and cultural activists. Though cultural systems of festivals and ceremonies are often researched and described, scholarly literature rarely identifies their creators or studies in detail the manner in which these systems are created. Staging and Stagers in Modern Jewish Palestine sheds important light on the stagers of modern Jewish Palestine and also on the processes and mechanisms that created the performative lore in other cultures, in ancient as well as modern times.

In Israel, anthropologists have customarily worked in their "e;home"e;-in the company of the society that they are studying. In the Company of Others: The Development of Anthropology in Israel by Orit Abuhav details the gradual development of the field, which arrived in Israel in the early twentieth century but did not have an official place in Israeli universities until the 1960s. Through archival research, observations and interviews conducted with active Israeli anthropologists, Abuhav creates a thorough picture of the discipline from its roots in the Mandate period to its current place in the Israeli academy. Abuhav begins by examining anthropology's disciplinary borders and practices, addressing its relationships to neighboring academic fields and ties to the national setting in which it is practiced. Against the background of changes in world anthropology, she traces the development of Israeli anthropology from its pioneering first practitioners-led by Raphael Patai, Erich Brauer, and Arthur Ruppin-to its academic breakthrough in the 1960s with the foreign-funded Bernstein Israel Research Project. She goes on to consider the role and characteristics of the field's professional association, the Israeli Anthropological Association (IAA), and also presents biographical sketches of fifty significant Israeli anthropologists. While Israeli anthropology has historically been limited in the numbers of its practitioners, it has been expansive in the scope of its studies. Abuhav brings a firsthand perspective to the crises and the highs, lows, and upheavals of the discipline in Israeli anthropology, which will be of interest to anthropologists, historians of the discipline, and scholars of Israeli studies.

In 1908, Solomon Schechter published his groundbreaking essay on the city of Safed (Tzfat) during the sixteenth century. In The Legend of Safed, Eli Yassif utilizes "new historicism" methodology in order to use the non-canonical materials to better understand the culture of Safed.

Focuses on two central elements: textual research to examine the aesthetic qualities of the narrative, their division into genres, the various versions and their parallels, and acculturation in Israel, as well as contextual research to examine the performance art of the narrator and the role of the narrative as a communicative process in the narrating society.

Offers a rich depiction of contemporary life in one marginalized development town in the Israeli Negev. Placing the stories of five women at the centre, author Pnina Motzafi-Haller depicts a range of creative strategies used by each woman to make a meaningful life within a reality of multiple exclusions.

The life story of a Jewish healer who worked in the Western High Atlas Mountain region of Morocco. Based on interviews with Moroccan Jews, this biography recreates the important moments in Wazana's life and evaluates his character from psychological and anthropological perspectives.

Traces the ways utopian visions of communication have played themselves out in particular contexts of Israeli society through the twentieth century, encapsulating central trends in the evolving Israeli cultural conversation over the years.

Brings together a collection of fifty-three folktales celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Israel Folktale Archives (IFA) at the University of Haifa. For this jubilee volume, contributors each selected stories from the more than 24,000 preserved in the archives and wrote an accompanying analytic essay. Stories selected represent 26 different ethnic groups in Israel, 22 of them Jewish.

Continues the dialogue surrounding the social history of Jerusalem. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the book juxtaposes Israeli and Palestinian personal narratives about the past with contemporary museum exhibits, street plaques, tourism, and real estate projects that are reshaping the city since the decline of the peace process and the second intifada.

Continues the dialogue surrounding the social history of Jerusalem. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the book juxtaposes Israeli and Palestinian personal narratives about the past with contemporary museum exhibits, street plaques, tourism, and real estate projects that are reshaping the city since the decline of the peace process and the second intifada.

Between 1977 and 1992, practically all Ethiopian Jews migrated to Israel. As the sole Jewish community from sub-Sahara Africa in Israel, the Ethiopian Jews have met with unique difficulties. Based on fieldwork conducted over several years, For Our Soul describes the ongoing process of adjustment and absorption that the Ethiopian Jewish immigrants experienced in Israel.

An interpretation of the historical experience of the Jewish community in Syria and in the other places to which Aleppan Jewry have immigrated. It points to the social, economic and cultural links that the communities have made for the persistence of community throughout the diaspora.

Examines a pan-ethnic style of music created by North African and Middle Eastern Israeli musicians in the late 20th century. This title focuses on the work of three artists - Avihu Medina, Zohar Argov, and Zehava Ben - who pioneered a recognizable Mizrahi style and moved this musical formation from the Mizrahi neighborhoods to the national arena.