How The Wise Men Got To Chelm

1. How the Wise Men got to Gotham: the fools of Chelm take Manhattan -- 2. How foolish Is Jewish culture? fools, Jews, and the Carnivalesque Culture of early modernity -- 3. Through the land of foolish culture: from Laleburg to Schildburg -- 4. Gentile fools speaking Yiddish: the Schildbergerbuch for Jewish readers -- 5. The enlightenment goes East: how Democritus of Abdera got to Galicia -- 6. The geography of folly: the folklorists and the invention of Chelm -- 7. Chelm tales after World War One in German and Yiddish: "Our Schilda" and "Our Chelm Correspondent

The collection of Jewish folk tales that the "New York Times" called "a delightful little book . . . a classic of its kind . . . full of merriment and wisdom". Illustrated with whimsical drawings, these humorous stories are just right for children.

Welcome to CHELM A cornucopia of irrepressible characters awaits within The Wise Folk of Chelm to welcome you to Europe's most famous town of fools. All this, author Seymour Rossel explains, is to bring the Chelm tradition into the twenty-first century. For the past hundred years, most Chelm stories have been published for children though only a handful of the tales are child-appropriate. It is no great surprise that the same few stories regularly reappear while many of the best of the stories-those that have amused and bemused adults since the seventeenth century-largely go unseen. For a decade, Rossel has combed the traditional Yiddish, Hebrew, and English canons of Chelm stories. He has turned up fascinating research on the origins of Chelm. He has experimented with telling the stories in so many ways to so many different groups that colleagues have taken to calling him "the "Houstoner Maggid,"" which loosely translates as "the parable-maker from Houston." Indeed, it has been said--mainly by his wife and children--and with some justification--that he knows his way around Chelm better than around Houston. The Wise Folk of Chelm is Rossel's new vision of the classic tales. First, the new heroes and heroines you will want to meet... Second, new streets to walk with them, new cafes and shops wherein to laugh with them, and new chances to attend the flamboyant, ever-surprising deliberations of Chelm's town council... Third, Rossel serves up a new kind of narrative that begs to be read out loud. He calls it "narrative slapstick" or "slapstick narrative." You'll call it entertainment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Wise Folk of Chelm is a delightful foray into the topsy-turvy world of the men and women of Chelm. A sweet, modern telling that will rekindle fond memories for those who grew up with the stories and bring smiles and laughter to those who have never before encountered Chelm." -- Bob Alper, rabbi and standup comic, author of "Life Doesn't Get Any Better Than This" and "A Rabbi Confesses"

When Chelm community leader, Gronam Ox, is given a live carp in honour of his great wisdom, he is delighted. He knows, of course, that eating the brain of a carp increases wisdom and that the size of the tail is indicative of the size of the brain. But when the carp uses that very tail to slap him across the face - in what can only have been a deliberate act - Gronam Ox is shocked. Surely no Chelm carp would have behaved in such an appalling manner. There is nothing else for it; the carp must be punished.While Gronam Ox ponders the most fitting punishment, the carp is fed and looked after in a large tub of water stationed in the town centre. It is essential that the carp survives until the day of judgement but Gronam Ox's deliberations are taking quite some time. The carp grows fatter and fatter until finally, many months later, Gronam Ox arrives at an apt sentence - one so clever that all the people of Chelm flock to see it exacted. The carp must be drowned.Written for children by the master storyteller, and former Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, this classic Yiddish folktale is infused with his signature humour, warmth and wisdom. This beautifully illustrated new publication will bring the famously foolish people of Chelm to life for a new generation of children.