Wise Tales From the Jewish World: The Essential Collection

This book contains fifty-five of the most engaging fables and parables the Jewish tradition has to offer. It includes ancient tales taken from the Talmud and the Midrash, parables articulated by the rabbis of the Middle Ages, and more recent fables told by the charismatic leaders of the Hassidic Movement. If you take them seriously, these stories may make a real impact on the way you view your life.Jewish readers may discover in these tales the wisdom of their ancestors. Teachers and educators may find them handy for preparing lectures and stimulating class debates. Parents may use them as instructive bedtime stories. And anyone else — no matter what his or her religious conviction or cultural background may be — would surely enjoy perusing through these enchanting tales of kings and princesses, mirrors and spoons, lions and foxes.

Uri Kaplan is a writer, translator, and scholar of religion. He lectures at several universities and is author of Buddhist Apologetics in East Asia (Brill, 2019), Monastic Education in Korea (University of Hawai'i Press, 2020), and Wise Tales From the East (Prapanca, 2020).