Jewish mythology

Jewish mythology is generally the sacred and traditional narratives that help explain and symbolize the Jewish religion, whereas Jewish folklore consists of the folk tales and legends that existed in the general Jewish culture. There is very little early folklore distinct from the aggadah literature. However, mythology and folklore has survived and expanded among the Jewish people in all eras of its history.
==In the Tanakh==
The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) are the foundational Jewish texts. They contain all of the sacred Jewish knowledge from Creation to statehood and loss of sovereignty, including the direct intervention of God, His covenants, laws, requirement for rituals, and miracles contained in the Torah, and the allegedly largely historical account of the nation of Israel that traces the histories of the twelve tribes of Israel back to Adam and Eve. While the vast majority of the world's myths take place before recorded history of the respective societies begins, the bulk of Tanakh is an allegedly written record of Jewish history, with only a small part dedicated to pre-Jewish history. While Tanakh does contain a significant amount of knowledge that can be said to be "a sacred narrative in the sense that it contributes to systems of thought and values, and that people attach religious or spiritual significance to it", it also contains a large amount of knowledge of strictly practical value in application such as building codes, regulations on hygiene and dietary intake, finance and standards of measurement, and others [e.g. Exodus 21:1-23:19. Leviticus 6:1-7; chapters 11-15; 17:10-16; 18:1-20:27; ch. 25; ch. 27. Numbers ch. 30. Deuteronomy chapters 14-15 and 17 and 19-25. 1 Samuel 30:18-25. The book of Proverbs. Ezekiel 45:1-17. Malachi 2:13-16]. In fact what is considered spiritual by modern society, the Jewish Kabbalah, had not become evident until the Mishnaic period, and had not reached peak of acceptance as part of the religious system as a whole until the Middle Ages.
Even if the larger interpretation of Mythology as folklore is accepted, the nature of Jewish traditions, or minhagim that would constitute the "transmissible entity" rarely reach to the Tanakh period.
The "material culture" of Judaism is mandated by its general rules or Halakha that include the Mezuzah as its earliest example, and the Tefillin as the most often seen example. Neither are considered to be "folklore artifacts" with both manufactured by qualified scribes.
Almost no "culture" can be traced from modern observant Jewish communities to the Tanakh. The wide differentiation observed even within the normatively "orthodox" haredi societies underscores the lack of common "culture" despite the commonality of Kol Torah among its leaders such as the World Agudath Israel.
Although "behavior" is something that is derived from the Tanakh by the observant Jews, the many rituals that could be considered folklore can not be practiced due to the lack of availability of the designated place, the Temple in Jerusalem. These rituals have been replaced by other, rationalized rituals that bear little resemblance to accepted forms of folklore or mythology in other societies.
==In the Talmud==
The Jewish people's tendency to adopt the neighboring pagan practices, denounced as it had been by the Jewish prophets, returned with force during the Talmudic period. However, almost no mythology was borrowed until the Midrashic and Talmudic periods, when what can be described as mysticism emerged in the kabbalistic schools. One such aspect was the appearance of the "Shedim", or demons; these became ubiquitous to the ordinary JewsG. Dennis, "Demons and Demonology," The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism with the increased access to the study of the Talmud after the invention of the printing press.
The classical rabbis themselves were at times not free from sharing in the popular beliefs. Thus, while there is a whole catalog of prognostications by means of Dreams in Ber. 55 et seq., and Rabbi Johanan claimed that those dreams are true which come in the morning or are dreamed about us by others, or are repeated,Ber. 56b Rabbi Meïr declares that dreams help not and injure not.Gittin 52a, and parallels Dream interpretation is not however a factor in considering mythologyfication of Talmud knowledge since it was at the time a part of the wider nascent development of what later became the discipline of Psychology, and also incorporated Astrology, and effect of digestion on behaviour.
An example of typical mythology in the Talmud (חולין נט ע"ב - ע"ב, Chullin 59b) exists as a discussion about a giant deer and a giant lion which are both originated in a mythical forest called "Dvei Ilai". The deer is called "keresh". The lion, called "tigris", is said to be so big that there is space of 9 feet between the lobes of his lung. The Roman Caesar Hadrian once asked a Rabbi to show him this lion, since every lion can be killed, but the Rabbi refused and pointed out that this is not a normal lion. The Roman Caesar insisted, so the Rabbi called for the lion of "Dvei Ilai". He roared once from a distance of 400 amot and all the city walls of Rome tumbled down. Then he came to 300 amot and roared again and the front teeth and molars of Roman men fall out.
The authorities of the Talmud seem to be particularly influenced by popular conception in the direction of folk medicine. A belief in the Evil eye was also prevalent in Talmudic times, and occasionally omens were taken seriously, though in some cases recognized as being merely popular beliefs. Thus, while it is declared to be unlucky to do things twice, as eating, drinking, or washing,Pesachim 109b Rabbi Dunai recognized that this was an old tradition.ib. 110b A remarkable custom mentioned in the Talmud is that of planting trees when children are born and intertwining them to form the huppah when they marry.Gittin 57a Yet this idea may be originally Persian and is also found in India.W. Crookes, in "Folk-Lore," vii.
It may be possible to distinguish in the haggadic legends of Biblical character those portions that probably formed part of the original accounts from those that have been developed by the exegetic principles of the haggadists.
The uniqueness of the Talmudic style of both recording meaning and deriving it using exegesis places the many seemingly mythological components of the much larger halachic content into a content very unlike the purely story-telling corpus of other cultures.
==In post-Talmudic times==
After the dispersion of the Jews, the Jewish people spread among the peoples of the earth and were influenced by other cultures. Mythographers have been studying how Jewish mythology began to borrow or adapt stories and ideas from various cultures. Mythology was naturally acquired and adapted to each time and place.
A variation in custom is sometimes found between one set of Jews and another which enables the inquirer to determine the origin of them. Thus, English Jews sometimes show a disinclination to sit down with thirteen at a table, probably copied from their Christian neighbors who connect the superstition with the Last Supper of Jesus; whereas Russian Jews consider thirteen as a particularly lucky number, as it is the gematria of "echad" (one), the last and most important word of the Shema. [aleph (1) + khet (8) + daled (4) = 13]
On the other hand, many stories are specifically Jewish in nature and origination. For example, the belief that the resurrection of the dead will take place in the valley of Jehoshaphat is a specifically Jewish corollary to their narratives of an after-life, and a veneration of Jerusalem.
==In ancient folktales==
Jewish folktales were those stories usually containing incidents of a superhuman character, spread among the folk either by traditions from their elders or by communication from strangers. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages (dwarfs, giants, fairies, ghosts, etc.), by the sudden transformation of men into beasts and vice versa, or by other unnatural incidents (flying horses, a hundred years' sleep, and the like). Of a similar kind are the drolls of the nursery, generally consisting of a number of simple "sells." A number of haggadic stories bear folktale characteristics, especially those relating to Og, King of Bashan, which have the same exaggerations as have the "Lügenmärchen" of modern German folktalesG. Dennis, "Og," The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism. There are signs that a certain number of fables were adopted by the Rabbis either from Greek or, indirectly, from Persian and Indian sources.
==In the Middle Ages==
There is considerable evidence of Jewish people helping the spread of Eastern folk-tales in Europe.Joseph Jacobs, "Folk-Tales", Jewish Encyclopedia Besides these tales from foreign sources, Jews either collected or composed others which were told throughout the European ghettos, and were collected in Yiddish in the "Maasebücher". Numbers of the folktales contained in these collections were also published separately.see the earlier ones given by Moritz Steinschneider in Hebrew books in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Catalogus Librorum Hebræorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, Berlin, 1852-60), Nos. 3869-3942 It is, however, difficult to call many of them folktales in the sense given above, since nothing fairy-like or supernormal occurs in them.
==Legends==
There are a few definitely Jewish legends of the Middle Ages which partake of the character of folktales, such as those of the Jewish pope Andreas and of the golem, or that relating to the wall of the Rashi chapel, which moved backward in order to save the life of a poor woman who was in danger of being crushed by a passing carriage in the narrow way. Several of these legends were collected by Tendlau ("Sagen und Legenden der Jüdischen Vorzeit").
In the late 19th century many folk-tales were gathered among Jews or published from Hebrew manuscripts by Israel Lévi in "Revue des Etudes Juives," in "Revue des Traditions Populaires," and in "Melusine "; by M. Gaster in "Folk-Lore" and in the reports of Montefiore College; and by M. Grunwald in "Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde";see Index to part vi., s.v. "Erählungen" by L. Wiener in the same periodical; and by F. S. Krauss in "Urquell," both series.
Altogether some sixty or seventy folk-tales have been found among Jews of the present day; but in scarcely a single case is there anything specifically Jewish about the stories, while in most cases they can be traced back to folk-tales current among the surrounding peoples. Thus the story of "Kunz and His Shepherd"Grunwald, "Mitteilungen," ii. 1 occurs in English as "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury"; and "The Magician's Pupil"No. 4 of Wiener, in "Mitteilungen," x. 103 is also found widely spread. The well-known story of the "Language of Birds," which has been studied by Frazer,"Archeological Review," iii., iv.; comp. "Urquell," v. 266 is given in "Mitteilungen," i. 77. No. 4 in the collection of Wiener is the widespread folk-tale of "The Giant's Daughter," which some have traced back to the legend of Medea. Two of the stories collected by Grunwald, No. 13, "The Birds of Ibycus," and No. 14, "The Ring of Polycrates," appear to be traceable to classical sources; while his No. 4 gives the well-known episode of the "Thankful Beasts," which Theodor Benfey traced across Europe through India."Kleine Schriften," i. Even in the tales having a comic termination and known to the folk-lorists as drolls, there are no signs of Jewish originality. The first of the stories collected by Wiener is the well-known "Man in the Sack," who gets out of his difficulties by telling passers-by that he has been unwillingly condemned to marry a princess.see Jacobs, "Indian Fairy Tales"
==Comparative mythology==
Jewish mythology contains similarities to myths of other cultures, and it may have absorbed elements from other ancient Near Eastern mythologies. Judaism has also reacted against these mythologies, seeking to purge its own mythology of "pagan" elements. In addition, elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian and Islamic mythology, as well as Western culture in general. Christian mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament, especially sharing the stories that speak of creation of the earth and people and the belief in one God as heavenly father. Islamic mythology also came after Jewish, and shares some of the same stories; for instance, a creation account spaced out over six periods, the legend of Abraham, and stories of Moses and the Israelites.
===Contrasts with pagan mythology===
The ancient Hebrews often participated in the religious practices of their Near Eastern neighbors, worshiping other gods alongside their own god, the God of Israel (YHWH).Armstrong, p. 93; Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 136 For instance, during Ezekiel's time, Hebrew women joined in the worship of Tammuz, a Babylonian fertility god.Ezekiel 8:14 These pagan religions were forms of nature worship: their deities were personifications of natural phenomena like storms and fertility.Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 141 Because of its nature worship, Mircea Eliade argues, Near Eastern paganism expressed itself in "rich and dramatic mythologies" featuring "strong and dynamic gods" and "orgiastic divinities".
The Biblical prophets, including Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, had a concept of the divine that differed significantly from that of the nature religions.
According to Jewish mythology, their lives were full of miracles, signs, and visions from God that kept Jewish mythology alive, growing, and distinct from the pagan mythologies of its neighbors.
Instead of seeing the God of Israel as just own national god, these prophets saw him as the one God of the entire universe.Armstrong, p. 93
The prophets condemned Hebrew participation in nature worship, and they refused to completely identify the divine with natural forces. In so doing, they set the stage for a new kind of mythology — a mythology featuring a single God who exists beyond the natural world.Armstrong, pp. 95-96; Irwin, pp. 323-34 Unlike Tammuz, who dies and revives along with the vegetation,Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 140 the God of the Hebrew prophets is beyond natureIrwin, p. 233 and, therefore, isn't bound by the natural rhythms:
"Where the Babylonian gods were engaged in an ongoing battle against the forces of chaos, and needed the rituals of the New Year festival to restore their energies, Yahweh can simply rest on the seventh day, his work complete."Armstrong, p. 96; see also Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 143
Through the prophets' influence, Jewish mythology increasingly portrayed God as aloof from nature and acting independently of natural forces.Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, pp. 141-42; Irwin, p. 230, 233 On one hand, this produced a mythology that was, in a sense, more complex. Instead of eternally repeating a seasonal cycle of acts, Yahweh stood outside nature and intervened in it, producing new, historically unprecedented events:
"That was theophany of a new type, hitherto unknown—the intervention of Jahveh in history. It was therefore something irreversible and unrepeatable. The fall of Jerusalem does not repeat the fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem presents a new historic theophany, another 'wrath' of Jahveh. […] Jahveh stands out from the world of abstractions, of symbols and generalities; he acts in history and enters into relations with actual historical beings."Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 152-53
On the other hand, this transcendent God was absolutely unique and hard for humans to relate to.Irwin, p. 233; Armstrong, p. 82-83, 93-94 Thus, the myths surrounding Him were, in a sense, less complex: they did not involve the acts of multiple, anthropomorphic gods. In this sense, "Jahveh is surrounded by no multiple and varied myths", and did not share in the "rich and dramatic mythologies" of his pagan counterparts.
The Hebrew prophets had to struggle against the nature gods' popularity, and Jewish mythology reflects this struggle.Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 142; Armstrong, p. 94 In fact, some Jewish myths may have been consciously designed to reflect the conflict between paganism and a new uncompromising monotheism. In Psalm 82, God stands up in the divine council and condemns the pagan deities:Armstrong, p. 93-93 though they are gods, He says, they will die like mortal men.Psalms 82:6-7
Freelance scholar Karen Armstrong interprets the creation myth of Genesis 1 "as a poised, calm polemic against the old belligerent cosmogonies", particularly the Babylonian cosmogonic myth.Armstrong, p. 95 The Babylonian Enuma Elish describes the god Marduk earning kingship over the other gods, battling the monster Tiamat, and creating the world from her corpse. In contrast, Armstrong argues, in the Genesis account (and in the book of Isaiah that describe Yahweh's victory over the sea-monster Leviathan),
"the sun, moon, stars, sky and earth are not gods in their own right, hostile to Yahweh. They are subservient to him, and created for a purely practical end. The sea-monster is no Tiamat, but is God's creature and does his bidding."Armstrong, p. 96
===Connections with pagan mythology===
Some comparative mythologists think Jewish mythology absorbed elements from pagan mythology. According to these scholars, even while resisting pagan worship, the Jews willingly absorbed elements of pagan mythology.Armstrong, p. 96; McGinn, p. 23-24 Whether or not Judaism actually absorbed ideas from paganism, Jewish myths contain similarities to myths of other cultures.
====The flood====
The Hebrew story of Noah's Ark and the flood has similarities to ancient flood stories told worldwide. One of the closest parallels is the Mesopotamian myth of a world flood, recorded in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Hebrew Bible flood story (Genesis 6:5-22), God decides to flood the world and start over, due to mankind's sinfulness. However, God sees that a man named Noah was righteous (because he walked with God)and blameless among the people. God instructs Noah to build an ark, and directs him to bring at least two of every animal inside the boat, along with his family. The flood comes and covers the world. After 40 days, Noah sends a raven to check whether the waters have subsided, then a dove; after exiting the boat, Noah offers a sacrifice to God, who smells "the sweet savour" and promises never to destroy the earth by water again -and making the rainbow a symbol of this promise. Similarly, in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh,The Epic of Gilgamesh, p. 108-13 the bustle of humanity disturbs the gods, who decide to send a flood. Warned by one of the gods, a man named Utnapishtim builds a boat and takes his family and animals inside. After the flood, Utnapishtim sends a dove, then a swallow, then a raven to check whether the waters have subsided. After exiting the boat, Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell "the sweet savour" and repent their choice to send the flood.
Another ancient flood myth is the Hindu story of Matsya the fish. According to this story,Translation of the Hindu scripture Matsya 1:11-35 in Classical Hindu Mythology, p. 71-74 the god Vishnu takes the form of a fish and warns the ancestor Manu about a coming flood. He tells Manu to put all the creatures of the earth into a boat. Unlike the Biblical and Mesopotamian floods, however, this flood is not a unique event brought on by a divine choice; instead, it's one of the destructions and recreations of the universe that happen at regular intervals in Hindu mythology.
====The "combat myth"====
Many of the Hebrews' pagan neighbors had a "combat myth" about the good god battling the demon of chaos; one example of this mytheme is the Bablyonian Enuma Elish.McGinn, p. 23 A lesser known example is the very fragmentary myth of Labbu.Labbu is discussed in terms of the developing "adversary" mythology of the Ancient Near East and the Judeo-Christian tradition, in Neil Forsyth, The Old Enemy: Satan & the Combat Myth (Princeton University press) 1987:44f. According to historian Bernard McGinn, the combat myth's imagery influenced Jewish mythology. The myth of God's triumph over Leviathan, a symbol of chaos, has the form of a combat myth.McGinn, p. 24 In addition, McGinn thinks the Hebrews applied the "combat myth" motif to the relationship between God and Satan: originally a deputy in God's court, assigned to act as mankind's "accuser" (satan means "to oppose"), Satan evolved into a being with "an apparently independent realm of operation as a source of evil" — no longer God's deputy but his opponent in a cosmic struggle.McGinn, p. 23-25
Even the Exodus story shows influence. McGinn believes the "Song of the sea", which the Hebrews sang after seeing God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, includes "motifs and language from the combat myth used to emphasize the importance of the foundational event in Israel's religious identity: the crossing of the Red Sea and deliverance from the Pharaoh." Likewise, Armstrong notes the similarity between pagan myths in which gods "split the sea in half when they created the world" and the story of the Exodus from Egypt, in which Moses splits the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea) — "though what is being brought into being in the Exodus, is not a cosmos but a people". In any case, the motif of God as the "divine warrior" fighting on Israel's behalf is clearly evident in the Song of the Sea (Ex. 15). This motif is recurrent in poetry throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (I Samuel 2; Zechariah 9:11-16;14:3-8).
====Other connections with non-Jewish mythology====
Also possibly derived from pagan mythology is the story of the "Watchers" (Genesis 6:1-4). According to this story, heavenly beings once descended to earth, intermarried with humans, and produced the nephilim, "the heroes of old, men of renown". Jewish tradition regards those heavenly beings as wicked angels,McGinn, p. 25 but the myth may be a fragment of pagan mythology about gods interbreeding with humans to produce heroes.footnote on Genesis 6:1-4 in The New American Bible, St Joseph Edition
Joseph Campbell notes that the Eden narrative's forbidden tree is an example of a motif "very popular in fairy tales, known to folklore students as the One Forbidden Thing".Campbell, p. 109 For another example of the One Forbidden Thing, see the Serbian fairy tale Bash Chelik, in which the hero is forbidden to open a certain door but he does anyway, thereby releasing the villain. Also see the classic story of Pandora's box, which existed in ancient Greek mythology.
===Perception of time===
====Jewish mythology and linear time====
According to the Near Eastern specialist William A. Irwin, the Hebrew Bible presents history as "a comprehensive reality" raised "to the highest importance".Irwin, p. 321 Time is linear in Jewish mythology, and Jewish scripture traces ancestors and genealogies.
Other traditional cultures limited mythical events to the beginning of time, and saw important historical events as repetitions of those mythical events.Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 190; Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 11-12 In contrast, the important events in Jewish mythology are not limited to a far-off primordial age: Jewish myths and legends stretch "out of the far past into an eternal future". According to Mircea Eliade, the Hebrew prophets "valorized" history, seeing historical events as episodes in a continual divine revelation.Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1, p. 356 This doesn't mean that all historical events have significance in Judaism;Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 153 however, in Jewish mythology, significant events happen throughout history, and they are not merely repetitions of each other; each significant event is a new act of God:
"The fall of Samaria actually did occur in history [...] It was therefore something irreversible and unrepeatable. The fall of Jerusalem does not repeat the fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem presents a new historic theophany."Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 152
By portraying time as a linear progression of events, rather than an eternal repetition, Jewish mythology suggested the possibility for progress.Irwin, p. 323
This view of history was very innovative for the times. Inherited by Christianity, it has deeply influenced Western philosophy and culture. Even supposedly secular or political Western movements have worked within the world-view of progress and linear history inherited from Judaism.Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 69; Campbell, p. 201 Because of this legacy, the religious historian Mircea Eliade argues that "Judaeo-Christianity makes an innovation of the first importance" in mythology.Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 64
====Possibility of Zoroastrian influence====
The mythologist Joseph Campbell believes the Judeo-Christian idea of linear, progressive history originated with the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. In the mythologies of India and the Far East, "the world was not to be reformed, but only known, revered, and its laws obeyed".Campbell, p. 191 In contrast, in Zoroastrianism, the current world is "corrupt [...] and to be reformed by human action". According to Campbell, this "progressive view of cosmic history"Campbell, p. 192 "can be heard echoed and re-echoed, in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaean, Arabic, and every tongue of the West".Campbell, p. 190
R. C. Zaehner, a professor of Eastern religions, argues for Zoroastrianism's direct influence on Jewish eschatological myths, especially the resurrection of the dead with rewards and punishments.Zaehner, p. 58
Mircea Eliade believes that the Hebrews had a sense of linear time before their contact with Zoroastrianism.Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1, p. 302 However, he agrees with Zaehner that Judaism elaborated its mythology of linear time with eschatological elements that originated in Zoroastrianism. According to Eliade, these elements include ethical dualism, the myth of a savior, and "an optimistic eschatology, proclaiming the final triumph of Good".
==Aggadah and folklore compilations==
* "The Legends of the Jews", by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, is an original synthesis of a vast amount of aggadah from the Mishnah, the two Talmuds and Midrash. Ginzberg had an encyclopedic knowledge of all rabbinic literature, and his masterwork included a massive array of aggadot. However he did not create an anthology which showed these aggadot distinctly. Rather, he paraphrased them and rewrote them into one continuous narrative that covered five volumes, followed by two volumes of footnotes that give specific sources.
*The Ein Yaakov is a compilation of the aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud together with commentary.
*Sefer Ha-Aggadah, "The Book of Legends" is a classic compilation of aggadah from the Mishnah, the two Talmuds and the Midrash literature. It was edited by Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky. Bialik and Ravnitky worked to compile a comprehensive and representative overview of aggadah; they spent three years compiling their work. When they found the same aggadah in multiple versions, from multiple sources, they usually selected the later form, the one found in the Babylonian Talmud. However they also presented a great some aggadot sequentially, giving the early form from the Jerusalem Talmud, and later versions from the Babylonian Talmud, and from a classic midrash compilation. In each case each every aggadah is given with its original source. In their original edition, they translated the Aramaic aggadot into modern Hebrew. Sefer Ha-Aggadah was first published in 1908-11 in Odessa, Russia, then reprinted numerous times in Israel. In 1992 it was translated into English as "The Book of Legends", by William G, Braude.
* Mimekor Yisrael, by Micha Josef (bin Gorion) Berdyczewski. Berdyczewski was interested in compiling the folklore and legends of the Jewish people, from the earliest times up until the dawn of the modern era. His collection included a large array of aggadot, although they were limited to those he considered within the domain of folklore.
==Related to science fiction==
In the past century to modern day, there have been many retellings of Jewish myths (mostly from the Torah), and adaptations for the modern public. They have mostly been in the regions of science-fiction; as Isaac Asimov noted in his introduction to More Wandering Stars:
:"...Can science fiction be part of Jewish culture? From fantasy stories we know?/ And as I think of it, it begins to seem to me that it is and we do know. And the source? From where else? From the Hebrew source for everything-- From the Bible. We have but to look through the Bible to see for ourselves." - Isaac Asimov.
He goes on to show parallels between Biblical stories and modern science-fiction:
*'Let there be light!' was an example of advanced scientific mechanisms.
*God is an extraterrestrial.
*Adam and Eve as colonists on a new planet.
*The serpent was an alien, as Earth snakes don't speak or show any intelligence (and they're trayf, as well).
*The flood was a story of a world catastrophe, and the survivors (like in Larry Niven's "Inconstant Moon").
*The Tower of Babel (like Metropolis, which it inspired in part).
*Moses vs. the Egyptian magicians is advanced technological warfare.
*Samson as Sword-&-Sorcery.
*First chapter of Ezekiel is a UFO account.
The Hugo Awards, one of the highest distinctions for science fiction writers, have been awarded to plenty of Biblically derived stories, for instance:
*Arthur C. Clark's "The Star". (On a certain star)
*Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream". (When God is angry)
*Larry Niven's "Inconstant Moon". (An explanation of Noah's flood)
*Harlan Ellison's "The Deathbird". (A retold Genesis)
Another example is the Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, which takes kabbalah elements, while narrating a reinterpretation of events surrounding Adam, Eve and Lilith on a futuristic and apocalyptic way.
== Torah Allusions in Fiction ==
Classic and modern literature continue revisting Torah and Haftarah narratives. Saul's character from the Books of Samuel later emerges as Shakespeare's Macbeth.Discussion how Shakespeare borrowed from the Book of Samuel as a source for Macbeth http://www.shakespeareauthority.com/macbeth David and Goliath, emerge as Beowulf and Grendel. Some books do a much better job of concealing the Haftorah sources from which they borrowed, one such example is Harry Potter where the main character is orphaned and later enters a seminary type school out of which he emerges a wizard. Clearly there exist parallels between Harry and the prophet Samuel who was also schooled in a seminary type school headed by Eli "The Kohen Gadol" whose sons Phinehas and Hophni bring a curse on their father's house, but the adopted Samuel grows up to become one of the greatest prophets and judges appointed by God to anoint Saul, and subsequently the legendary David—kings of Israel. Another example of a Jewish theme in the Harry Potter book "Chamber of Secrets", Professor Dumboldore says "It's our choices that define who we are, not our abilities." This statement was adapted from its derivative form as it originally appears in Deuteronomy 30:19 "...I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your heirs." Article identifies Torah Allusions in Harry Potter series http://judaism.about.com/od/literature/a/hpotter.htmDeuteronomy 30:19 (King James Version) commentary http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/5728/eVerseID/5728 In the book of Samuel, Eli's sons Hophni and Phinhas are described as using a "three pronged fork" Samuel 2:13 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+2%3A13-17&version=NIV which later emerges as Poseidon's Trident.
==Comic book adaptations==
In comic book circles it is often suggested that the two Jewish creators of the Superman comic, which was essentially the beginning of superhero comics and comic books, were partly inspired by the story of the Golem of Prague.For a sample discussion of this subject see "Superman and the Golem".
==See also==
* Arabic mythology
* Christian mythology
* Islamic mythology
* Kabbalah
* Religion and mythology
==Citations and notes==
==References==
* Jewish Encyclopedia. Ed. Cyrus Adler, et al. 22 May 2008 JewishEncyclopedia.com.
* Armstrong, Karen. A Short History of Myth. NY: Canongate, 2005.
* Ausubel, Nathan, ed. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: The Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, and Wisdom of the Jewish People NY: Crown Publishers, 1990.
* Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology. NY: Penguin Compass, 1991.
* Dennis, Geoffrey. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism. MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2007.
* Eliade, Mircea.
** A History of Religious Ideas. Vol. 1. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
** Myth and Reality. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
** Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
* Irwin, William A. "The Hebrews". (Frankfort et al. The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977. pp. 221–360.)
* Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales, Micha Joseph bin Gorion, translated by I. M. Lask, Trans. Three volumes. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1976
* Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales Abridged and Annotated Edition Micha Joseph bin Gorion. This is a one volume abridged and annotated version, with an introduction and headnotes, by Dan Ben-Amos. Indiana University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-253-31158-6.
*Folktales of Israel Ed. Dov Noy, with the assistance of Dan Ben-Amos. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963
* Jewish Folktales from Morocco, Ed. Dov Noy, Jerusalem, 1964.
* Jewish Folktales from Tunisia, Ed. Dov Noy, Jerusalem, 1964.
* "Hebrew Parallels to Indian Folktales," Journal of the Assam Research Society, 15 (1963), pp. 37–45.
* Magoulick, Mary. "What is Myth?" Folklore Connections. Georgia College State University, 22 May 2008 .
* McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.
* Mintz, Jerome R. Legends of the Hasidim: An Introduction to Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1968
* Four Master Folklorists And Their Major Contributions Peninnah Schram, from Opening Worlds of Words, Peninnah Schram and Cherie Karo Schwartz
* Segal, Robert A. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
* Zong In-Sob. Folk Tales From Korea. Elizabeth: Hollym International, 1982.
* Graves, Robert, "Introduction," New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames), London: Hamlyn, 1968, pp. v-viii.
* The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. N.K. Sandars. NY: Penguin, 1960.
* Classical Hindu Mythology. Ed. and trans. Cornelia Dimmitt and J.A.B. van Buitenen. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978.
* New American Bible. St Joseph Edition. NY: Catholic Publishing Co. (Used as a source for some scholarly information on comparative mythology found in its footnotes.)
* Harris, Robert, Virtual Salt: A Glossary of Literary Terms 2002.
* Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales. Edited by Howard Schwartz. New York, OUP USA, 2008, 540 pp.
==Further reading==
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