Jewish Poland : legends of origin : ethnopoetics and legendary chronicles / Haya Bar-Itzhak.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bar-Yitsḥaḳ, Ḥayah.

Standardized Title:

Polin--agadot reshit. English

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Jews--Poland--Origin--Folklore.

Jews.

Jewish legends--Poland.

Jewish legends.

Jews--Poland--Folklore.

Jewish legends--Poland--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Wayne State University Press 2018

Detroit, Mich. : Wayne State University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The first appearance of Jews in Poland and their adventures during their early years of settlement in the country are concealed in undocumented shadows of history. What survived are legends of origin that early chroniclers, historians, writers, and folklore scholars transcribed, thus contributing to their preservation. According to the legendary chronicles Jews resided in Poland for a millennium and developed a vibrant community. Haya Bar-Itzhak examines the legends of origin of the Jews of Poland and discloses how the community creates its own chronicle, how it structures and consolidates its identity through stories about its founding, and how this identity varies from age to age. Bar-Itzhak also examines what happened to these legends after the extermination of Polish Jewry during the Holocaust, when the human space they describe no longer exists except in memory. For the Polish Jews after the Holocaust, the legends of origin undergo a fascinating transformation into legends of destruction.Jewish Poland-Legends of Origin brings to light the more obscure legends of origin as well as those already well known. This book will be of interest to scholars in folklore studies as well as to scholars of Judaic history and culture.

Contents:

The geography of the Jewish imagination : po-lin among trees with leaves from the Gemara

Legends of acceptance : segregation versus involvement

The legend of Abraham the Jew, King of Poland

The legend of Esther the Jewess and King Casimir the Great of Poland

My eyes shed tears, because the enemy has overcome : the transformation of legends of origin into legends of destruction.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-186) and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780814343920

0814343929

OCLC:

1057369230