King Solomon and the Golden Fish

King Solomon and the Golden Fish
Author: Matilda Koén-Sarano
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2004
Genre: Folk literature, Ladino
ISBN: 9780814331668

A collection of fifty-four Judeo-Spanish folktales taken from the rich heritage of Sephardic oral storytelling and translated into English for the first time.

King Solomon and the Golden Fish

King Solomon and the Golden Fish
Author: Matilda Koén-Sarano
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2004-08-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 081434187X

These folktales remain a powerful link between modern-day Spanish Jews and the Hispano-Jewish legacy—this collection passes along that legacy and provides a source of the customs and values of Sephardic Jews.

Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Biblical Heroes

Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Biblical Heroes
Author: Michael E. Stone
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2019-04-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0884143554

Explore richly embellished Armenian tales of biblical heroes This fifth book of Michael E. Stone's English translations of stories from medieval Armenian manuscripts illustrates how authors transmitted and transformed accounts of biblical heroes. Texts focus on important figures such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Solomon, Daniel and Susanna, and more. This collection reflects not only the richness of Armenian creativity stimulated by piety and learning but also Michael E. Stone's career-long search for reworkings of biblical traditions, stories, and persons in the Armenian tradition. Features: A rich tradition of biblical exegesis and commentary, much of it in genres of the older apocryphal and pseudepigraphical literature Reflections on the roots of Armenian texts in ancient Judaism and earliest Christianity Texts, translations, and a critical apparatus

Leaves from the Garden of Eden

Leaves from the Garden of Eden
Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2010-09-23
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0199754381

In Leaves from the Garden of Eden, Howard Schwartz, a three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award, has gathered together one hundred of the most astonishing and luminous stories from Jewish folk tradition. Just as Schwartz's award-winning book Tree of Souls collected the essential myths of Jewish tradition, Leaves from the Garden of Eden collects one hundred essential Jewish tales. As imaginative as the Arabian Nights, these stories invoke enchanted worlds, demonic realms, and mystical experiences. The four most popular types of Jewish tales are gathered here--fairy tales, folktales, supernatural tales, and mystical tales--taking readers on heavenly journeys, lifelong quests, and descents to the underworld. There is a dybbuk lurking in a well, a book that comes to life, and a world where Lilith, the Queen of Demons, seduces the unsuspecting. Here too are Jewish versions of many of the best-known tales, including "Cinderella," "Snow White," and "Rapunzel." Schwartz's retelling of one of these stories, "The Finger," inspired Tim Burton's film Corpse Bride.

The Heart Is a Mirror

The Heart Is a Mirror
Author: Tamar Alexander-Frizer
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 706
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814340059

Jewish studies scholars, as well as those interested in folktale studies, will gain much from this fascinating and readable volume.

The Sorcery of Solomon

The Sorcery of Solomon
Author: Sara L. Mastros
Publisher: Weiser Books
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2024-01-08
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 163341275X

“An excellent body of practice for those wishing to explore the vast depths of the magic of the Solomonic pentacles.” —David Rankine, author of The Grimoire Encyclopaedia The Key of Solomon is a family of closely related historic grimoires legendarily attributed to Solomon, the biblical Magician King. Most famously, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers’s 1889 English edition presented forty-four Hebrew seals, commonly called the “planetary pentacles.” However, it offered very little guidance for how to work with them. Sara L. Mastros, a leading teacher and practitioner of magic, translates and interprets each of these pentacles and presents practical methods for working with their magical powers, creating a clear, accessible user’s guide. “Sara Mastros has provided a deep dive into the forty-four pentacles as codified by Mathers. Drawing on a wide variety of sources and her own experiences, she includes many easy-to-follow exercises for exploring them.” —Joseph Peterson, author of The Secrets of Solomon In The Sorcery of Solomon, Mastros places The Key of Solomon in a historical and folkloric context, presenting a complete, fresh translation of the forty-four pentacles, all of which have been newly illustrated. She guides the reader through the process of working with Solomonic pentacles and more. Primarily intended for intermediate-level magicians who already have a basic knowledge of spellcraft, The Sorcery of Solomon is also appropriate for beginners who are willing to do a bit of extra “homework.” “Sara Mastros manages to illuminate the past history of the pentacles while shining a light forward into the future with clear and thoughtful instruction. Not only does she fully explain the design of each pentacle, correcting many errors along the way, but she shares advice and insight gained from her own work. The Sorcery of Solomon delivers what it promises: a fully workable system of magic.” —Jason Miller, author of Protection and Reversal Magic

The Power of Song

The Power of Song
Author: Rita Roth
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2018-07
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0827613946

Meet Hanina, the daughter of a Jewish tailor who cures a sultan's only child by taming a lioness to get her milk. And Nahum Bilbas, the brave rabbi-in-training who dares to confront the great warrior El Cid in order to secure peace for the Jews of Valencia. These and countless other colorful characters will entertain and intrigue you in this delightful collection that contains lessons, truths, surprises, and happy endings. When the Jews fled the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 and scattered all over Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, they took with them the folktales that were an integral part of their heritage. As they settled into their new homelands, they borrowed many of the literary devices and motifs from their adopted countries, adding varied flavor to the traditional Jewish stories. For ages eight and up, The Power of Song includes a glossary of foreign words, and each story is accompanied by a short commentary on its origin and meaning. The author's introduction gives special attention to the history of Jewish folktales and specifically those of the Sephardic Jews.

Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures

Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures
Author: Theresa Bane
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0786488948

This exhaustive volume catalogs nearly three thousand demons in the mythologies and lore of virtually every ancient society and most religions. From Aamon, the demon of life and reproduction with the head of a serpent and the body of a wolf in Christian demonology, to Zu, the half-man, half-bird personification of the southern wind and thunder clouds in Sumero-Akkadian mythology, entries offer descriptions of each demon's origins, appearance and cultural significance. Also included are descriptions of the demonic and diabolical members making up the hierarchy of Hell and the numerous species of demons that, according to various folklores, mythologies, and religions, populate the earth and plague mankind. Very thoroughly indexed.

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology

Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology
Author: Theresa Bane
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2017-02-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0786455810

From the earliest days of oral history to the present, the vampire myth persists among mankind's deeply-rooted fears. This encyclopedia, with entries ranging from "Abchanchu" to "Zmeus," includes nearly 600 different species of historical and mythological vampires, fully described and detailed.

Folktales of the Jews, Volume 1

Folktales of the Jews, Volume 1
Author: Dov Noy
Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
Total Pages: 769
Release: 2006-09-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0827608292

Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion begins the most important collection of Jewish folktales ever published. It is the first volume in Folktales of the Jews, the five-volume series to be released over the next several years, in the tradition of Louis Ginzberg's classic, Legends of the Jews. The 71 tales here and the others in this series have been selected from the Israel Folktale Archives, Named in Honor of Dov Noy, The University of Haifa (IFA), a treasure house of Jewish lore that has remained largely unavailable to the entire world until now. Since the creation of the State of Israel, the IFA has collected more than 20,000 tales from newly arrived immigrants, long-lost stories shared by their families from around the world. The tales come from the major ethno-linguistic communities of the Jewish world and are representative of a wide variety of subjects and motifs, especially rich in Jewish content and context. Each of the tales is accompanied by in-depth commentary that explains the tale's cultural, historical, and literary background and its similarity to other tales in the IFA collection, and extensive scholarly notes. There is also an introduction that describes the Sephardic culture and its folk narrative tradition, a world map of the areas covered, illustrations, biographies of the collectors and narrators, tale type and motif indexes, a subject index, and a comprehensive bibliography. Until the establishment of the IFA, we had had only limited access to the wide range of Jewish folk narratives. Even in Israel, the gathering place of the most wide-ranging cross-section of world Jewry, these folktales have remained largely unknown. Many of the communities no longer exist as cohesive societies in their representative lands; the Holocaust, migration, and changes in living styles have made the continuation of these tales impossible. This volume and the others to come will be monuments to a rich but vanishing oral tradition.