Chosen Tales: Stories Told by Jewish Storytellers

by Peninnah Schram (Editor)

Overview

The storytellers represented in Chosen Tales are among the most active and talented Jewish storytellers in the world. This extraordinary collection of 68 stories is, in a way, a Jewish storytelling festival, where storytellers gather to share stories, hear each other's stories, and get to know each other better through the stories that are told. Come and experience the magic of the oral tradition. Read and retell these stories again and again so that you too can shape the destiny of the timeless tradition of Jewish storytelling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461627784
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	07/01/1995
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	436
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Peninnah Schram is the author of Jewish Stories: One Generation Tells Another. She is a professional storyteller and recording artist, and professor of speech and drama at Stern College of Yeshiva University.

Editorial Reviews

68 stories are told here by storytellers from North America and Israel, in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions. Each tale is prefaced by the storyteller's reason for choosing it. The stories are very different from one another, yet they share central characteristics, making them appropriate for inclusion. They have Jewish themes the storytellers consider important, and they are written in a style that lends itself to reading aloud.

Jewish Book World

Schram has assembled an extraordinary collection of stories by inviting some 68 gifted storytellers to contribute a favorite tale. Amazingly, there is no duplication-although a few stories feature variations on the same theme. Although the stories have Jewish themes, the appeal is universal-for such is the power of a good story. Presented in a style suited for reading aloud, these pieces inspire, entertain, teach, and enchant. Each story is prefaced with a biographical vignette of the author. The erudite, introductory essay by Avi Weiss explores both the diversity and uniqueness of the Jewish story. A glossary and a list of storytelling organizations enhance the book's usefulness. This fascinating anthology will have broad appeal for both the general reader and the specialist.-Carol R. Glatt, VA Medical Ctr. Lib., Philadelphia

Library Journal

[Here] are family and personal tales, folk and fairy tales, stories of mystery and magic and everyday reality.. .. What comes across over and over in these tales is the central importance in the Jewish tradition of storytelling in cultural and spiritual development. The very meaning of tradition and how these tales have helped to keep it alive fills the listener with hope for a better world to come.. .. A valuable addition to the canon of Jewish narratives.

Come-All-Ye

[Here] are family and personal tales, folk and fairy tales, stories of mystery and magic and everyday reality.. .. What comes across over and over in these tales is the central importance in the Jewish tradition of storytelling in cultural and spiritualdevelopment. The very meaning of tradition and how these tales have helped to keep it alive fills the listener with hope for a better world to come.. .. A valuable addition to the canon of Jewish narratives....

Peninnah [Schram] has been rightfully nicknamed the Magidah [herald] of Jewish storytelling.. .. The stories in Chosen Tales are exceedingly well chosen. They will delight non-Jews as well as Jews, teachers and rabbis, storytellers and storylovers, and, as the circus ringmaster might put it, 'ladies, gentlemen, and children of all ages.. . .''''

From the Publisher