What’s Jewish About Jewish Folklore?

The illustrated lecture “What’s Jewish About Jewish Folklore?” examines the specific traits of Jewish, and particularly Ashkenazic and Yiddish, folklore to see whether they are indeed unique or rather part of a broader European folklore.

At the end of the 19th century folklore was considered “irrational” and “imaginative” and since “Jews are a rational people,” some scholars concluded that the Jewish people have no folklore. Today of course, we see that it is in fact the Yiddish writers who used folklore in their works, such as I. B. Singer and Sholem Aleichem that have drawn the largest readerships.

By taking into account various genres of Jewish folklore such as folksong, folktale, amulets, humor and custom, the talk will consider how Jewish history has shaped the folklore of its people and how that folklore reflects the characteristics of the Jews in the diaspora.