Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales
"The cast of characters alone is stunning: Moses and Elijah, David and Solomon, angels and demons, wonder-working rabbis and evil sorcerers, princes and peasants, even Jewish versions of Snow White and Cinderella...This book is a big, beguiling gem, changing colors as you tilt it toward the light. From one angle, it's a world of inventive adventures that children will love; from another angle, a collection of religious allegories that will engage and challenge adults; from yet another angle, a shimmering record of Jewish dreams."--JBooks.com"Looking for tales about demon marriages or angel encounters, magic spells or epic quests? They're all right here, and then some."--Jerusalem PostIn the learned introduction to "Leaves From the Garden of Eden," Schwartz performs the admirable feat of dissecting how and why these tales have lasted so long without allowing the spotlight he shines on them to reduce their ability to delight. ...With Schwartz as their guide through this Garden of Eden, [readers] will find not only enchanting stories but a new understanding of a heritage that lives on, strongly.Four years afterTree of Soulstook our breaths away with myths of the Jewish tradition, three-time National Jewish Book Award winner Howard Schwartz now brings us a reference pulsing with one hundred magical, miraculous, and spiritual Jewish stories. ...Comprehensive notes and commentary root each story and draw its ties to Jewish tradition. The five appendices are crowning jewels, which also define and index the tales by source, story cycle (of, about, and by key protagonists), countries of origin, specialized subject types, and Arne-Thompson tale types."-- ewish Book World