HAYA BAR-ITZHAK e few scholarly treatments of Jewish ethnography and folklore studies in Eastern Europe have focused mostly on the collection of folklore materials. But even when Jewish folklore studies in Eastern Europe were still in their PIONEERS OF JEWISH infancy, some scholars and authors made important contributions to the theoretical side of the discipline. is book focuses on these contributions and includes both discussion of these early folklorists and translations of ETHNOGRAPHY some of their key writings. e pioneers of Jewish ethnography and folkloristics dealt with many areas and AND FOLKLORISTICS genres: folk narrative, folk songs, humor and jokes, beliefs and customs, folk medicine, folk art and material culture, and the interplay between folklore and history and between folklore and literature. Most of the research IN EASTERN EUROPE questions they posed continue to engage scholars today, and answers supplied by them remain relevant today and can serve as building blocks for the future. Haya Bar-Itzhak is Chair of the Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature and Head of Folklore Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel. She also serves as Academic Head of the Israel Folktale Archives. Among other books, she is author of Jewish Poland: Legends of Origin - Ethnopoetics and Legendary Chronicles (2001); and Israeli Folk Narratives: Settlement, Immigration, Ethnicity (2005) both published by Wayne State University Press. Among her awards is the American National Jewish Book award. PIONEERS OF JEWISH OF ETHNOGRAPHY PIONEERS 19 € ISBN 978-961-254-174-3 BAR-ITZHAK HAYA 9 789612 541743 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 232 22.2.2010 12:34:21 STUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA SUPPLEMENTA SUPPLEMENTUM 2 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 1 22.2.2010 12:34:05 Zbirka/Series STUDIA MYTHOLOGICA SLAVICA – SUPPLEMENTA Supplementum 2 Uredniki zbirke/Editors of the Series Monika Kropej, Nikolai Mikhailov, Andrej Pleterski, Vlado Nartnik Haya Bar-Itzhak PIONEERS OF JEWISH ETHNOGRAPHY AND FOLKLORISTICS IN EASTERN EUROPE Prevod/Translated by Lenn Schramm Oblikovanje/Graphic art and design Media graphics d.o.o., Ljubljana Izdala in založila/Published by Založba ZRC v sodelovanju z Inštitutom za slovensko narodopisje ZRC SAZU ZRC Publishing in association with the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology at ZRC SAZU Zanj/Represented by Monika Kropej in/and Oto Luthar Glavni urednik/Editor-in-Chief Vojislav Likar Tisk/Printed by Littera picta, d.o.o., Ljubljana, Slovenia Cover art Helena Gałkowska, “Candleholder”, tapestry, Th e Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw. Studia Mythologica Slavica Spletna stran/Webpage: http://sms.zrc-sazu.si CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 398(4-11=411.16)(082) 39(4-11=411.16)(082) BAR-Itzhak, Haya Pioneers of Jewish ethnography and folkloristics in Eastern Europe / Haya Bar-Itzhak ; translation by Lenn Schramm. - Ljubljana : Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU : Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje ZRC SAZU = Institute of Slovenian Ethnology at ZRC SAZU, 2010. - (Zbirka Studia mythologica Slavica. Supplementa ; supplementum 2) ISBN 978-961-254-174-3 249411328 © 2010, Založba ZRC/ZRC Publishing, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana Digitalna različica (pdf) je pod pogoji licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 prosto dostopna / Digital version (pdf) is freely available according to the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence: https://doi.org/10.3986/9789612541743 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 2 22.2.2010 12:34:12 HAYA BAR-ITZHAK PIONEERS OF JEWISH ETHNOGRAPHY AND FOLKLORISTICS IN EASTERN EUROPE Translation by Lenn Schramm SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CENTRE OF THE SLOVENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS LJUBLJANA 2010 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 3 22.2.2010 12:34:12 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 4 22.2.2010 12:34:12 To the blessed memory of Alan Dundes The Doyen of Folklore Studies. Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 5 22.2.2010 12:34:12 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 6 22.2.2010 12:34:12 Contents Preface ....................................................................................................................................................9 Chapter I Th e Beginning of Ethnography and Folkloristics in Eastern Europe – A Survey. ...................13 Chapter II S. An-Ski (S.Z. Rappoport) the Ethnographer of the Jews and his “Jewish Ethnopoetics.” ................................................................................................................27 S. An-Ski, Jewish Ethnopoetics. .................................................................................................34 Chapter III Y. L. Cahan – A Scholar of Jewish Folk Songs. ........................................................................75 Y. L. Cahan, Jewish Folk Songs. .................................................................................................82 Chapter IV Alter (Asher Abraham Abba) Druyanow and the Study of Jewish Folklore. ....................113 Alter Druyanow, Jewish Folk Humor......................................................................................119 Chapter V Regina Lilienthal and the Study of Folk Customs and Beliefs. ...........................................157 Regina Lilienthal, Th e Evil Eye. ...............................................................................................161 Chapter VI Th e Historian Meir Bałaban and his Contribution to the Study of the Ethnography and Folklore of Polish Jewry.............................................................................181 Meir Bałaban, Saul Wahl, Th e Jewish King of Poland: Truth and Legend. .......................188 Chapter VII Itzik Manger – A Jewish Poet and Author as Folklorist. .....................................................201 Itzik Manger, Folklore and Literature. ....................................................................................205 Aft erword ..........................................................................................................................................211 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................213 Index of Names and Places .............................................................................................................223 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 7 22.2.2010 12:34:12 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 8 22.2.2010 12:34:12 PREFACE his volume presents some of the most important theoretical contributions of the pioneers of Jewish folklore studies in Eastern Europe.1 T To date, the few scholarly treatments of Jewish ethnography and folklore studies in Eastern Europe have focused mostly on the collection of folklore materials, the collectors, and the institutions, whose achievements were truly impressive.2 But even when Jewish folklore studies in Eastern Europe were still in their infancy, some authors made important contribu- tions to the theoretical side of the discipline.3 Th e present volume focuses on these contribu- tions. Because of the languages in which they were written, the bulk of these works are not accessible to most students of Jewish folklore today. Th e discussion of these early folklorists and the translations of some of their key writings, presented here, are intended to remedy this defi cit in part and to rescue their work from undeserved oblivion. Chapter 1 looks at the beginnings of Jewish folklore studies and ethnography in Eastern Europe and its pioneers. Th e years before World War I and the interwar period, which saw the emergence of Jewish folklore studies in Eastern Europe, were a time of change and upheaval in general, and for Jewish society in particular. Because these processes were infl uenced not only by historical events, but also by ideological currents and the movements they produced, the latter’s infl uence on folklore studies needs to be considered. Most of the pioneers of Jewish folklore studies in Eastern Europe were affi liated with one of three ideological currents: (1) the stream that sought to solve the problem of the Jews through their integration, as full citizens, into the dominant nationality of the country in which they lived; (2) Zionism, which saw the solution in the rebirth of the Jewish nation and of Hebrew culture in Eretz Israel; and (3) sev- eral movements that advocated a national solution for the Jews in the Diaspora. All of the pioneers of Jewish folklore studies, whatever their affi liation, shared a recog- nition of the importance of Jewish folk culture. Th e diff erence between them was expressed chiefl y in the language in which they chose to write. Th ose who advocated integration wrote 1 In this book “Eastern Europe” refers to territories that are currently part of Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, and Romania. 2 Th e most important book on this topic is that by Itzik Gottesman (2003), which deals with folklore and Yiddishism in Poland and focuses on the pioneering collectors of folklore in Warsaw and Vilna and the in- stitutions that coordinated their work. Goldberg-Mulkiewicz (1989) concentrates on Jewish topics in Polish ethnography. 3 I have written on this contribution in Chulyot, a journal of Yiddish culture. See Bar-Itzhak 1999, 2000, 2002. 9 Supplementum_4_s kazalom_section head - 165x235.indd 9 22.2.2010 12:34:12 in the non-Jewish vernacular. Th e Zionists wrote in Hebrew.4 For both